Gurugram School Murder 2017: Sessions court begins hearing testimony of witnesses

GURUGRAM: A court here on Monday began hearing the testimony of witnesses in connection with the killing of a seven-year-old boy at a private school in Bhondsi in 2017, a lawyer said. "Prince" was allegedly killed by an older boy inside the school's washroom.

The accused, 16 years old at the time of the incident, has been in detention since. The court has barred the media from using the names of the juvenile accused and the victim. While the juvenile accused was named "Bholu" by the court, the victim was named "Prince" and the school was referred to as "Vidyalaya".

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A sessions court had in January framed charges against the youth accused of killing Prince. "The court of additional district and session judge Tarun Singal began hearing the testimony of witnesses. Two witnesses reached the court for testimony on behalf of prosecution. However, the testimony of the second witness could not be completed.

"The court has fixed March 3 for the next hearing along with the completion of the testimony of the second witness and also for cross-examination," said Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for the victim's family. Four witnesses were called by the CBI, including three experts from the central forensic science laboratory (CFSL) and Dr Deepak Mathur, the head of the board of doctors who conducted the postmortem of the deceased student.

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During the hearing on Monday, the testimony of expert Dr BK Mohapatra from CFSL's Serology department was completed. But the testimony of Dr Mathur could not be completed. This process went on till around 4.30 pm, he said. Tekriwal said during the hearing, the knife used in the murder, various other samples taken were also shown in the court.

"Due to completion of time, the court decided that the testimony of Dr Deepak Mathur would be completed in the next hearing on March 3. On the same day, both the witnesses will be cross examined. For the testimony of the remaining two witnesses, the court has fixed the next date on March 16," added Tekriwal.

The court of additional district and sessions judge Tarun Singal framed the charges of murder against Bholu under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.