Teen Student Accused Of Killing 7-Year-Old In Gurgaon School Denied Bail

Gurgaon:  The 16-year-old student, accused of killing seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur at the Ryan International School, won't be released from custody as a Gurgaon court today rejected his bail plea for the first time since the Juvenile Justice Board's ruling that the accused be treated as an adult.

The teen is accused of murdering the class 2 student of the same school, picked at random, to defer an approaching examination and a parent-teacher meeting.

Pradyuman, a seven-year-old student of the same school, was found with his throat slit outside the school's washroom on September 8 last year. The Gurgaon Police had immediately arrested a school bus conductor for his murder. However, a month later, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was handed over the case, arrested the Class 11 student, saying the teen had confessed to killing Pradyuman.

The CCTV footage from cameras outside the school washroom showed the teen was the last one to leave the washroom, the agency said.

The boy's father, however, alleged that his son was "hung upside down and brutally thrashed" in order to extract a confession.

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Pradyuman's parents had appealed that the teen accused be tried as an adult. The Juvenile Justice Board, on December 20 last year, while noting that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions, held that he would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurgaon sessions court.

If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, the board said.