Juvenile murderer to be treated as an adult in Gurugram school murder case
May 22, 2018The trial of the 16-year-old student from the “Gurugram murder” of his class II schoolmate has been addressed by the district sessions court at Gurugram. The Court held that for the purpose of the trial, the boy shall be treated as an “adult”, upholding the decision of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), dated December 20th 2017. The legal age at which a person is treated as an adult is 18 in India. The boy is currently in custody as the bail sought by his family had been denied earlier this January.
The JJB had arrived at its decision after examining the boy's physical and mental ability, the sociological and psychological and expert's reports of the accused, that indicate that the boy was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions and also hyper-aggressive in nature.
Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu junked the appeal of the student along with other two pleas in the case.
The CBI had earlier arrested the victim’s school bus conductor, Ashok Kumar in relation to the murder. However, when the father of the victim approached the Supreme Court for an independent probe into the matter, the juvenile was apprehended for the heinous crime.
The accused's family had filed a petition contesting the board's order, claiming that the JJB had passed its order even before the CBI could complete its investigation and file a charge sheet in the case. They alleged that the board passed the order “only on a face value of allegations and evidence” and “in a haste”. The accused’s lawyer, Advocate Sandeep Aneja plans to approach the Punjab & Haryana High Court against the order.
However, all such allegations have been rubbished by the victim’s lawyer, Sushil Tekriwal, who maintains that “The decision of the session's court that the teenager will be treated and tried as an adult is historic. The social background and the contents of the report directly indicate that the juvenile should be treated as an adult. The offence which he had committed is not juvenile in nature”.
The JJB had arrived at its decision after examining the boy's physical and mental ability, the sociological and psychological and expert's reports of the accused, that indicate that the boy was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions and also hyper-aggressive in nature.
Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu junked the appeal of the student along with other two pleas in the case.
The CBI had earlier arrested the victim’s school bus conductor, Ashok Kumar in relation to the murder. However, when the father of the victim approached the Supreme Court for an independent probe into the matter, the juvenile was apprehended for the heinous crime.
The accused's family had filed a petition contesting the board's order, claiming that the JJB had passed its order even before the CBI could complete its investigation and file a charge sheet in the case. They alleged that the board passed the order “only on a face value of allegations and evidence” and “in a haste”. The accused’s lawyer, Advocate Sandeep Aneja plans to approach the Punjab & Haryana High Court against the order.
However, all such allegations have been rubbished by the victim’s lawyer, Sushil Tekriwal, who maintains that “The decision of the session's court that the teenager will be treated and tried as an adult is historic. The social background and the contents of the report directly indicate that the juvenile should be treated as an adult. The offence which he had committed is not juvenile in nature”.
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