NER DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to cancel the interim bail granted to top executives of Ryan International School, saying the CBI, which is investigating the September 8 murder of Class 2 student Pradhyumn Thakur, had not placed any evidence against them.
A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and Abhay Manohar Sapre upheld the order passed by Punjab and Haryana high court granting bail to Ryan Pinto, Augustine Francis Pinto and Grace Pinto and said, "As on date, the CBI is yet to examine and analyse the role of the private respondents in this case and there is no evidence of their complicity in the crime and there is not even a pointer of involvement of respondents herein in the alleged crime."
The bench added, "In our considered opinion, without expressing anything on the merits of the case as the investigation is still under progress and the CBI is yet to come to a conclusion regarding the involvement of the private respondents in the crime, they have made out a case for grant of protection by way of interim bail till the presentation of challan by the CBI as has been passed by learned single judge. Therefore, the order passed by learned single judge granting interim bail to the respondents cannot be faulted with."
The court passed the order on an appeal filed by Pradhyumn's father Barun Thakur, seeking quashing of the high court order. Pradhyumn was discovered with his throat slit inside a washroom on the school premises in Bhondsi on September 8.
The CBSE had blamed the school management for the child's death and had told the apex court that the incident could have been averted if the school management had not been negligent in taking adequate security measures.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the board said "severe irregularities and security lapses" were observed in the school by its inquiry committee, making students vulnerable to such incidents.
The CBI has detained a Class 11 student of the same campus for the murder of Pradhyumn.
A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and Abhay Manohar Sapre upheld the order passed by Punjab and Haryana high court granting bail to Ryan Pinto, Augustine Francis Pinto and Grace Pinto and said, "As on date, the CBI is yet to examine and analyse the role of the private respondents in this case and there is no evidence of their complicity in the crime and there is not even a pointer of involvement of respondents herein in the alleged crime."
The bench added, "In our considered opinion, without expressing anything on the merits of the case as the investigation is still under progress and the CBI is yet to come to a conclusion regarding the involvement of the private respondents in the crime, they have made out a case for grant of protection by way of interim bail till the presentation of challan by the CBI as has been passed by learned single judge. Therefore, the order passed by learned single judge granting interim bail to the respondents cannot be faulted with."
The court passed the order on an appeal filed by Pradhyumn's father Barun Thakur, seeking quashing of the high court order. Pradhyumn was discovered with his throat slit inside a washroom on the school premises in Bhondsi on September 8.
The CBSE had blamed the school management for the child's death and had told the apex court that the incident could have been averted if the school management had not been negligent in taking adequate security measures.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the board said "severe irregularities and security lapses" were observed in the school by its inquiry committee, making students vulnerable to such incidents.
The CBI has detained a Class 11 student of the same campus for the murder of Pradhyumn.
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