Gurugram school murder case: Try accused as adult, orders Juvenile Justice Board

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, October 17

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Monday ordered that the accused in the Gururgam private school murder case will be treated as an adult.

Bholu, the accused in the Prince murder case, will be produced in the District and Sessions Court on October 31.

Counsel for the victim side said all the documents related to the case will be sent to the court before the hearing.

The order has put to rest discussions over trial of the accused as an adult or a minor.

Taking cognizance of the matter on July 13, the Supreme Court had again sent the matter to Gurugram JJB for review and decide whether Bholu should be treated as an adult or a minor.

On July 27, the Board, after hearing all three sides, had sought opinion from its empanelled psychiatrist. Later, three psychiatrists from PGI Rohtak submitted a report.

In the report, it was submitted that “Bholu, as of today, has the maturity to understand the alleged offence, but no valid conclusion can be drawn. Due to many inconsistencies in Bholu’s old reports and assessments, no valid conclusion can be drawn as to what would be his state of mind at the time of the incident.”

Based on the report, the JJB committee talked to Bholu in private for a few hours. After which the three parties presented their arguments before the JJB. On the basis of the arguments, the Juvenile Justice Board ordered to try Bholu as an adult.

All three parties have been informed of this order on behalf of the board. The board will provide copies of the order to all the parties in a day or two.

Barun Thakur, father of Prince, said, “Today Principal Magistrate Jatin Gujral of Juvenile Justice Board, Gurugram, pronounced his verdict after a fresh re-assessment of accused Bholu, Children in Conflict with Law and directed that he shall be tried as an adult and also further directed that he shall be produced before the District and Sessions Court on October 31 for furtherance of his trial as an adult.”

Despite several attempts the father of Bholu and his counsel could not be contacted. Sources said they can move to the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the order of JJB.

It may be noted that after the boy’s murder on September 8, 2017, a bus driver was made the prime suspect in the incident and was sent to jail. But when CBI took charge of the investigation, Bholu, then a Class 11 student in the same school, was found to have allegedly killed the boy, and was taken in custody.