Court to hear fingerprint issue today

GURGAON: The Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board on Wednesday will hear the case of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) request for fingerprints of the juvenile in conflict with the law in the Ryan murder case. Lawyer of the juvenile, Sandeep Aneja, moved two applications before the JJ board on Tuesday evening.

The juvenile was taken into custody on November 7 in connection with the murder of Class 2 student Pradhyumn Thakur of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8.

“We need a copy of the application moved by the CBI for taking the fingerprints as the juvenile is in judicial custody. We have not received a copy despite reminders and have sought the same before the JJ Board,” said Aneja.

The board will also hear an application moved by the juvenile’s father, in which he accused CBI investigators of interrogating his son beyond the prescribed time limit of 10am to 6pm when he was in their custody. The father has also stated that the CBI officials have not given him a copy of the application to take his son’s fingerprints.

Aneja said fingerprints were basic forensic evidence and the CBI should have taken the prints when they had three-day custody of the boy. CBI said the juvenile’s father visited the observation home on a day not designated for visits. Sushil Tekriwal, the lawyer of Pradhyumn’s father, Barun Chandra Thakur, said the Supreme Court recently ruled that asking an accused for fingerprints or footprints for probe is not in violation of one’s fundamental right to protect himself from becoming a witness against himself.