Ryan staffer moves SC, seeks transfer of case to Delhi court

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13

Accusing members of Gurugram and Sohna Bar bodies of physically stopping lawyers from representing the accused in the Pradyuman Thankur murder case, Northern zone head of Ryan Group Francis Thomas on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of the case to Delhi.

Senior advocate KTS Tulsi mentioned Thomas’s petition before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which posted the matter for hearing on September 18.

Tulsi contended every accused had a fundamental right to be represented by a lawyer of his choice and the bar body’s decision amounted to violation of this all-important right of accused Thomas.

Tulsi alleged that the Bar bodies at Sohna and Gurugram in Haryana have asked their member lawyers not to represent any person or accused in the murder of the seven-year-old boy on the school campus on Friday.

“The fundamental right under Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty) is being infringed,” Tulsi submitted. He urged the top court to shift the case from Sohna in Haryana to a trial court at Saket in the national capital.

The district Bar associations of Gurugram and Sohna had passed a resolution on September 9 not to defend the accused in this case, Tulsi pointed out. The Class 2 student was found with his throat slit on the morning of September 8 in the toilet of Ryan International School in Gurugram. Police allege that 42-year-old bus conductor Ashok Kumar killed him with a knife after the boy resisted an attempt to sodomise him. Thomas was arrested on Monday in connection with the murder.

This is the third petition filed in the       Supreme Court in connection with the case, the first and the second being from the slain child’s father and two woman lawyers, respectively. While his father sought a CBI probe and guidelines for child safety, the woman lawyer duo wanted a set of “non-negotiable” guidelines for the safety of school-going children across India.

Interim relief to trustees extended

• The Bombay HC on Wednesday extended till Thursday the interim protection from arrest granted to the trustees of Ryan International Group, even as the father of the seven-year-old boy sought to oppose their anticipatory bail pleas
• The HC directed the boy's father, Barun Thakur, to give the trustees a copy of his intervening application opposing their pre-arrest bail petitions
• Thakur, the father of the Class 2 student Pradyuman, filed an intervening application opposing the anticipatory bail pleas filed by the group's CEO, Ryan Pinto, and his parents - Augustine Pinto, the founding chairman of the group, and Grace, its managing director PTI

SIT, CBSE teams inspect school 

• SIT teams on Wednesday searched the Ryan school for clues, while a CBSE panel also inspected the premises to examine loopholes in security arrangements
• The Gurgaon Police’s SIT also took samples of fingerprints and shoes at the crime scene besides clicking photos, shooting videos of the suspected places. The five-member CBSE team inspected every corner of the school to examine security loopholes PTI