Supreme Court allows teenager to move high court for bail as an adult

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the teenager accused of killing a seven-year-old boy inside a private school to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court for bail as an adult.

A bench of justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran said the high court’s verdict of October 11 last year will not come in the way of the court deciding the bail application of the accused.

At the outset, advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for the father of the victim opposed the plea and said that as per the high court’s order the Gurugram Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) was to consider afresh whether the teenager should be tried as an adult in the case or not.

Only then he can be granted bail in the case, Tekriwal said.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the teenager, said the bail application has already been filed in the high court and is pending.

The bench said that it would be appropriate if the high court decides the bail application of the teenager “treating him as an adult and as per the law”.

On November 19 last year, the apex court had ordered status quo on the proceedings before the JJB which was to consider afresh whether the teenager accused should be tried as an adult in the case.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the JJB on October 11 last year to decide within six weeks whether the teenager was to be tried as an adult in the case.

The father of the victim had challenged the high court’s order on the ground that it was illegal and contrary to established procedure of the law.

The HC had allowed the petition of the accused, filed in July, challenging the decision of the JJB to try him as an adult in the murder case.

The CBI, in a charge sheet, had alleged that the teenager had murdered the student on September 8, 2017 in a bid to get examinations postponed and a scheduled parent-teacher meeting cancelled.

The victim’s body, with the throat slit, was found in the washroom of the school.

Earlier, the court had barred the media from using the name of the 16-year-old accused in the case and asked it to use fictitious names instead.

While the seven-year-old victim was named “Prince” by the court, the juvenile accused was named “Bholu” and the school was referred to as “Vidyalaya”.

The probe agency had earlier given a clean chit to school bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was arrested by the Gurgaon Police, saying there was no evidence to prove his involvement in the crime.

The CBI had taken up the case from the Gurgaon Police on September 22, 2017 following a nationwide uproar over the gruesome killing.

First Published: Feb 23, 2019 10:33 IST