PRADYUMAN MURDER: JUVENILE ACCUSED TO BE TRIED AS ADULT
The Class XI student, if convicted, will serve more than three years in prison
In a major judgment by the Juvenile Justice Board, the special court on Wednesday said that the 16-year-old accused in the murder of Pradyuman Thakur in Ryan International School, Bhondsi, will be now tried as adult.
The order will now ensure that the Class XI student, if convicted, will serve more than three years in prison, i.e. the usual quantum of punishment for juvenile accused.
However, the boy will also not be given a severe sentence, such as life imprisonment or death sentence, as Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice Act prevents the law from giving such harsh punishment.
As per the new law, which was passed by the Parliament in January 2016, the juvenile if convicted would serve a maximum of 10 to 15 years behind bars. The murder trial at as sessions court in Gurugram will begin immediately and the first hearing is slated to be held on Friday.
Claiming the verdict by JJB to be historic, Sushil Tekhriwal, legal counsel for Pradyuman's family said, “By exploiting the weakness in law, juveniles are getting away easily, even if they commit horrific crimes. From gang-rapes and murder as witnessed in the Nirbhaya case, to the recent gruesome incident in Uklana in Hisar, many cases involved juveniles.”
“Now, we will leave no stone unturned in the sessions court to make sure the 16-yearold serves the punishment for the crime he has committed,” Tekhriwal said.
Expressing satisfaction over the verdict, Pradyuman's father Barun Thakur said, “Our trust in the judiciary has got strengthened with this verdict. Ever since my son was murdered on September 8, I knew that we are in for a long fight for justice.
“This is just one of the hurdles that have been crossed.”
The decision by the JJB is the second major setback for the juvenile accused. In addition to his petition for bail getting rejected earlier, the special court also allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to take his fingerprints.
The boy's fingerprints, which were obtained by the premier investigating agency on Tuesday, will now be matched with the prints on the murder weapon which the agency had earlier retrieved.
Ever since seven-year-old Pradyuman was murdered in the washroom of the school, there have been various twists and turns in the case.
The cold-blooded murder of Pradyuman had taken a new dimension, after the CBI trashed the probe by Gurugram police and gave a clean chit to bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who had been arrested on the charges of murdering and sexual assaulting Pradyuman, but later got bail.