The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday ruled that the juvenile delinquent apprehended in connection with the murder of a seven-year-old at Ryan International School, Gurugram be tried as an adult.
In its order, the JJB referred to the statements of the juvenile’s teachers in the Social Investigation Report (SIR) suggesting that he was “aggressive”, “short-tempered” and remained “upset” due to constant quarrel between his parents.
‘Restless’
Referring to the statement of one of his teachers, the court, in its order, said that as per the teacher “his attitude towards his classmates was aggressive and he also shouted at other children. He also remained upset most of the time and disclosed to his music teacher that his parents quarrelled regularly, upset him”.
Another teacher pointed out that he was “very short-tempered... restless and lacks stability.”
A teacher, as per the SIR, revealed that he was a “below average in studies but good at music.” The court, in its detailed order, also referred to the statement of a staff nurse saying that “the juvenile came to her once with a compliant of vomiting and was under the influence of liquor at the time... He also used his mobile phone in school.”
The court, in its order, said that the psychological report of the juvenile also established that his IQ level was 95, showing average intelligence.
The order also emphasised that the juvenile, when initially produced before the court, fairly explained the circumstances under which he committed the act, but narrated a different story excluding his role when his statement for preliminary assessment was recorded.
The court said that “it indicated that the juvenile in conflict with the law also knows how to cook up a story in order to save himself which in turn goes to show that he has adequate mental capacity.”
Confession claim
The court said that the statement of the juvenile during the SIR alleging that he confessed under pressure from the CBI did not matter at this stage since the board had only to decide the physical and mental capacity of the juvenile and not whether he was guilty or not.
The JJ Board also rejected the defence’s argument that court could not decide on the physical and mental capacity of the juvenile till the time the CBI filed an interim or final report saying that “filing or non-filing of the final report by the investigating agency is of no effect on the preliminary assessment of the juvenile because this board already presumed him to be innocent unless proved otherwise at an appropriate stage.”
