Gurugram School Murder: 16-year-old Accused to be Tried as Adult, Rules Court

Gurugram: A sessions court on Monday dismissed the plea of a 16-year-old student, challenging the Juvenile Justice Board's (JJB) decision declaring him as an adult, in the murder case of a seven-year-old boy at a private school here.

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu junked the appeal of the student along with other two pleas in the case.

The court had earlier granted time till July 4 to the CBI to file a supplementary charge sheet in the murder case of a seven-year-old boy at a private school here.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, lawyer for the victim, had argued that the JJB's order declaring the 16-year-old accused as an adult was "well-reasoned" and there was no fault and "nothing illegal" in it.

The counsel for the a 16-year-old accused had challenged the JJB order, saying it was "bad in law" and passed without giving him proper opportunity to present his case.

Earlier, the court had barred the media from using the name of the 16-year-old juvenile accused in the case and asked it to use fictitious names instead.

While the seven-year-old victim was named "Prince" by the court, the juvenile accused was named "Bholu" and the school was referred to as "Vidyalaya".

The Juvenile Justice Board on in a ruling on December 20 last year said the accused was mature enough to know the consequences of his actions and hence should not be treated as a juvenile delinquent. The report, which CNN-News18 has exclusive access to, claims that the accused is hyper-aggressive and knew what he was doing.

The board also directed his production before the Gurgaon Sessions Court.

According to CBI chargesheet, the Class 11 student, believed to be weak in studies, allegedly slit the victim’s throat to get the school to declare a holiday in order to defer a scheduled parent-teacher meeting (PTM) and an examination.

The probe agency gave a clean chit to school bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was earlier arrested by the Gurgaon Police, saying there was no evidence to prove his involvement in the crime.

The CBI had taken up the case from the Gurgaon police on September 22, following a nationwide uproar over the gruesome killing.

(With agency inputs)