Accusing the coverage of the murder of a seven-year-old boy in Ryan International School in Gurugram as a “media trial”, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the interim bail granted to top executives of the group that runs the school.
A Bench of Justices R. K. Agrawal and A. M. Sapre said the CBI is yet to “examine and analyse the role” of Ryan Pinto, Dr. Augustine Francis Pinto and Grace Pinto — the top management executive of the Ryan International School — in connection with the alleged murder the boy on school premises on September 8.
The victim’s father had moved the Supreme Court against the Punjab and Haryana High Court decision of November 21 to grant them bail till the chargesheet is filed by the CBI in court.
Justice Agrawal said that as of now “there is no evidence of their [the Pintos] complicity in the crime and there is not even a pointer of involvement of respondents [Pintos] herein in the alleged crime. Their involvement cannot be established unless there is some substantial evidence against them”.
The court refrained from expressing observations on the merits of the case as the investigation is still under progress. It said that the Pintos cannot be held guilty of any suppression, or fraud in this matter.
Referring to the “wide coverage” that the case got in the media, the court said: “In fact, it can be said that there was a trial by media.”