Pvt school murder: Board to assess psyche of juvenile in conflict with law

GURUGRAM: Following directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday directed that a medical board be constituted for the psychiatric evaluation of the teenager who is accused of murdering a class 2 student in the toilet of their private school in Gurugram in September last year.

The Board tasked the head of psychiatry department at PGIMS, Rohtak, with constituting a three-member medical board and fixing a date for the assessment of the 17-year-old.

The Board, on the basis of its assessment and the medical board’s report, will take six weeks to decide on whether the accused is to be treated as an adult, said a JJB member.

The psychiatric assessment will be done in the presence of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), his counsel and the victim’s counsel.

The JJB also directed a member to prepare a fresh social background report of the accused.

“The board has got an agreement signed by all the three parties, juvenile’s father, victim’s father and CBI counsel on Wednesday that no one has objection to the process followed by the JJB for independent assessment of juvenile by medical board of PGIMS Rohtak,” said Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for victim’s father, adding that this will be final assessment with no scope for scrutiny and further litigation on the assessment.

A JJB member privy to the process said the medical board will be constituted on Thursday after the investigation officer of CBI hands over the JJB order to the psychiatry head in a sealed envelope.