On November 19, 2018, the Supreme Court had stayed proceedings of the JJB which was to consider afresh whether the teenager should be tried as an adult in the case. The apex court said there would be status quo on the proceedings of the JJB.(File)The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the father of the boy who was murdered by another student in a prominent school in Gurgaon in 2017. The petition was against a high court order asking the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to decide afresh if the accused will be treated as an adult or a minor during the trial.
On September 8, 2017, a boy studying in Class II was found murdered with his throat slit inside the washroom of a prominent private school in Gurgaon. The police arrested a school bus conductor, who had started working at the institute a few months prior to the incident, in connection with the crime on the day of the murder. Gurgaon police had said at the time that the bus conductor had tried to molest the victim and later killed him when he resisted. The police had said that the conductor had confessed to the crime.
The victim’s post-mortem report had stated “shock and haemorrhage following ante mortem single-edged sharp weapon injury”. The police had claimed that the murder weapon was a knife from the toolbox of conductor’s bus and that the conductor had confessed to taking the knife inside the school to clean it.
On September 15, 2017, following widespread outrage over the police probe, the Haryana government had recommended a CBI investigation in the matter. The CBI then took over the investigation on September 22, 2017, and took custody of the bus conductor.
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The CBI apprehended a Class XI student of the school in connection with the murder case on November 7, 2017, with its probe stating that the teenager had committed the murder in a bid to get the examinations postponed and a scheduled parent-teacher meeting cancelled. A week later, the victim’s father had moved a plea to treat the accused juvenile as an adult.
The school bus conductor was granted bail by a Gurgaon court on November 21, 2017. The conductor was later acquitted by a special court on February 28, 2018, after the CBI gave him a clean chit stating that there was no evidence to prove his involvement.
On December 20, 2017, the JJB had held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and directed his production before the Gurgaon sessions court. In May 2018, the sessions court upheld the decision of the board. The sessions court had dismissed the plea of the 16-year-old student challenging the JJB’s decision declaring him as an adult.
In July 2018, the juvenile’s father had challenged the JJB decision before the high court, seeking a revision to it.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the JJB to decide afresh whether the accused teenager has to be treated as an adult or a juvenile during the trial on October 11, 2018. The victim’s father had challenged the high court’s order on the ground that it was illegal and contrary to established procedure of the law.
On November 19, 2018, the Supreme Court had stayed proceedings of the JJB which was to consider afresh whether the teenager should be tried as an adult in the case. The apex court said there would be status quo on the proceedings of the JJB.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet in February 2018 stating that the teenager had murdered the student to get examinations postponed and a scheduled parent teacher meeting cancelled. In January 2021, the CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet against four Gurgaon police officials including the then ACP and SHO of the police station in the crime jurisdiction and investigating officer. In the chargesheet, the CBI had said that there was ‘sufficient evidence’ for prosecution against four police personnel who had allegedly implicated the bus conductor.
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