Gurugram school murder case: SC grants interim bail to accused days after JJB ruled he be tried as adult

PTI

New Delhi, October 20

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to a man who was barely 16 years old when he killed a 7-year-old boy in a private school in Gurugram, three days after a Juvenile Justice Board ruled he will be tried in the case as an adult.

The incident that sent shockwaves across the national capital region had happened in 2017.

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and J K Maheshwari said the continued detention of the accused until completion of the trial may have adverse effects on him.

“Accordingly, the prayer for interim relief is granted and until further orders of this court, that is by way of interim measure, the petitioner appellant be released on bail on conditions as may be imposed by sessions judge Gurugram.

“It is, however, specifically provided that the petitioner appellant shall continuously remain under supervision of a probation officer or any other person appointed by the sessions judge. It is also made clear that the petitioner and his parents would be expected not to create hindrance in the trial of the case and for that matter will not try to contact or communicate with any of the witnesses...,” the bench said.

The bench said if there is any shortcoming in the conduct of the petitioner, the probation officer shall be free to report it to the sessions judge who shall forward the information to the apex court.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, representing the victim’s family, told PTI, “We will endeavour our best to get the trial conducted expeditiously and not leave any stone unturned to get the conviction in the case.”

The top court will now hear the matter in January 2023.

A Juvenile Justice Board had on October 17 ordered that the accused will be tried in the case as an adult. The JJB passed the order after obtaining the opinion of psychologists about whether he, as a teenager at the time when the crime was committed, understood the enormity of the offence and its consequences.

The CBI had in its charge sheet alleged the teenager murdered his junior on September 8, 2017 in a bid to get the examinations postponed and a scheduled parents-teachers meeting cancelled.

The victim’s body, with the throat slit, was found in the washroom of the school in the Bhondsi area of Haryana’s Gurgaon.

The CBI had taken over the case from the Gurugram police on September 22, 2017 following a nationwide uproar over the gruesome killing.

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