Court defers hearing on case of 7-year-old schoolboy's killing

A sessions court here today deferred till March 16 the hearing on a 16-year-old student's plea seeking setting aside of an order of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which directed that he face criminal prosecution as an adult, in the case of killing of a seven-year-old boy at a private school at Bhondsi.

The matter was adjourned as Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu was on leave.

The court had earlier directed the CBI to speed up the probe in the case and submit a final progress report by April 10. It had also acquitted bus conductor Ashok Kumar in the murder case after the CBI said there was no evidence of his involvement in the crime.
 

The 16-year-old student had contended that the JJB order was "bad in law" and it was passed without giving him proper opportunity to present his case.

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had on December 20 last year held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and had directed that he be produced before the Gurgaon Sessions Court.

The plea stated that the board relied on a letter of the psychologist which had only one paragraph and lacked material evidence, adding that the client did not get any opportunity to rebut the arguments of the probe agency.

Earlier, the court had barred the media from using the name of the 16-year-old juvenile 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 CBI, in a charge sheet, has alleged that the teenager had murdered the student in September last year in a bid to postpone exams and cancel a scheduled parent-teacher meeting.

In the final report, the probe agency said sufficient oral, documentary and forensic evidence has come on record to substantiate that the 16-year-old accused had committed the murder on September 8 last year.

"It is, therefore, prayed that since a case of committing of murder of Prince on September 8, 2017 is made out against Bholu, this court may be pleased to take cognisance for the commission of offences punishable under 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code against Bholu accordingly as per law," it said.

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

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

The CBI took up the case from the Gurgaon police on September 22, following a nationwide uproar over the gruesome killing.

On January 8, the court had rejected the bail plea of the juvenile accused, imposed a cost of Rs 21,000 for "wasting the court's time" in baseless litigation and directed his father to deposit the amount.