Gurugram schoolboy killing: SC rejects bail plea of juvenile accused

New Delhi, July 20

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of a juvenile, accused of killing a seven-year-old boy in a private school in Gurugram.

A bench of Justices RF Nariman and Indu Malhotra rejected the plea which sought default bail on the grounds that the chargesheet was not filed within 60 days.

The bench said it is a heinous offence under Section 302 of the IPC and the time limit for filing the chargesheet was 90 days and not 60 days.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on June 6 dismissed the bail plea of the 16-year-old student, accused of killing the boy in September last year.

The high court had also rejected the accused’s submission that he deserved the benefit of statutory bail on the grounds that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had failed to conclude its probe within the prescribed limit of 60 days.

The accused had challenged in the high court the February 5 order of a Gurugram sessions court which had rejected his plea saying the stage was not fit for granting bail.

On May 21, the sessions court had held that the 16-year-old student would be tried as an adult in the murder case.

Upholding the decision of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), the court had said the juvenile board took into consideration all the material placed before it to establish “the physical and mental capacity (of the accused) to commit the crime” and there was no need for any intervention.

The accused had challenged the December 20 order of the JJB, which had held that the teenager would be tried as an adult.

The CBI, in its chargesheet, had alleged that the teenager had murdered the student on September 8 last year in a bid to get exams postponed and a scheduled parent-teacher meeting cancelled.

The victim’s body, with the throat slit, was found in the bathroom of the school at the Bhondsi area of Gurugram.

Earlier, the court had barred the media from using the name of the victim, the accused and the school and asked it to use fictitious names instead.

While the victim was named ‘Prince’ by the court, the accused was named ‘Bholu’ and the school was referred to as ‘vidyalaya’.

The probe agency had given a clean chit to school bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was arrested by the Gurugram police, saying there was no evidence to prove his involvement in the crime.

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