Board defers decision on juvenile’s trial as adult
GURGAON: The Juvenile Justice Board in Gurgaon sent the 16-year-old student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, to a juvenile home in Faridabad for 14 days on Wednesday; no decision was taken on whether the accused should be tried as an adult.
The juvenile, accused of murdering eight-year-old Pradhyumn Thakur of the same school on September 8, was produced before the Board after his custody ended on Wednesday. The proceedings started at 12pm and lasted for 15 minutes.
He will now be produced before the Board on December 6.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials also submitted before the board a copy of an application to get fingerprints of the accused.
“The CBI has moved an application for taking fingerprints of the juvenile. The agency had submitted the same application to the observation home in Faridabad on Monday. The JJ Board has asked us to file a reply to the said application. The matter has been adjourned to November 29 for further proceedings,” Sandeep Aneja, lawyer of the juvenile accused, said.
Given the attention this case has received, the juvenile was brought in five minutes before the proceedings with his face covered. After the proceedings, he was taken to Vikas Sadan from the side gate in a police van.
The father of the juvenile filed an application before the Board seeking action against CBI officials for not adhering to the timing set for questioning the accused. The father of the juvenile told the Board that the sleuths interrogated his son beyond the set time of 10am-6am during a three-day remand the CBI got on November 8.
“The reply has been filed by the CBI on the application moved by the father of the accused and hearing is scheduled for November 29,” Aneja said.
Meanwhile, Sushil Tekriwal, counsel of Barun Chandra Thakur, father of Pradhyumn Thakur, said no decision was taken during Wednesday’s proceedings on whether the juvenile should be tried as an adult.
On November 14, Thakur had filed a petition before the JJ Board stating: “...he knew what he was doing, his intentions were to kill. He brought a knife a day before and also researched poisons on the internet. The statements recorded by the CBI indicate that he had planned this murder to delay the exams and the parent-teacher’s meeting. The murder was with a motive.”
A social background report, prepared by Nisha Saini, legalcum-probation officer from the district child protection unit, will be submitted before the board in 90 days. Preliminary assessment will be a deciding factor on whether the boy should be treated as an adult.
Another factor will be the psychiatric assessment of the boy.