Ryan murder: Minor’s bail plea rejected, he may be treated as an adult

GURGAON: The Juvenile Justice Board on Friday received two crucial reports on the basis of which it will decide whether the boy accused of murdering a Class 2 student of the Ryan International School, Bhondsi, should be tried as a minor or an adult.

The board, which rejected the bail plea of the juvenile, perused his psychological assessment report and social background report, which, sources said indicate that he should be tried as an adult. The board will take a decision in this regard on Wednesday.

The reports were shared with lawyers from both sides and the argument on the preliminary assessment report, to be prepared on the basis of two reports, continued for almost two hours on Friday.

“The content and material of the preliminary assessment report sufficiently indicated that the mental and the physical capacity of the juvenile to commit the heinous offence and the ability to understand the consequences of offence is absolute for his trial as an adult. We have demanded that the case be transferred to the special court accordingly,” said Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for Barun Chandra Thakur, father of the victim, Pradhyumn Thakur, who was killed in the school toilet on September 8.

Dr Jogender Singh Kairo, a senior clinical psychologist from PGIMS Rohtak, had submitted the psychological assessment report of the 16-year-old accused on December 5, which states that the IQ of the juvenile is 95 which indicated that he is an average intellectual student.

The two-page report consists of the intelligence test of the boy, his interview, and the retraction statement.

The 25 pages social investigation report was submitted on November 21 by Nisha Saini, a legal-cum-probation officer from the district child protection unit. Ninety-five per cent of the report consists of the statements of teachers, students, family members, neighbours of the juvenile and his retraction statement after the initial confession before the CBI officials.

According to the report, the teachers said the boy was hyperaggressive, impulsive, short-tempered and lonely and below average student who was mostly upset and was always aggressive, said one of the lawyers who read the report on Friday.

A counsel of juvenile said the boy will be shocked to know of negative report from teachers who he was fond of.

The CBI had apprehended the juvenile on November 7 on charges of murdering Pradhyumn.