Ryan International School Murder: Accused to appeal against JJB order, hearing on Nov 19

GURUGRAM: A sessions court here fixed November 19 for hearing the matter related to the killing of a seven-year-old boy at a private school here in September 2017 after the defence sought time to challenge the order of the Juvenile Justice Board that the accused who was 16 at the time of the crime be tried as an adult.

On Monday, all the parties, including the accused accompanied by his father, reached the court of Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Singal for the maiden hearing in the case since the Board's order on October 17. The defence submitted that they are moving the Supreme Court against the decision of JJB and urged the judge to put off the hearing, following which he fixed November 19 for taking up the matter, according to lawyers.

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After reviewing for the second time on the direction of the Supreme Court, the JJB had stuck to its stand that the accused should be tried as an adult. Days later, the Supreme Court granted him bail, noting that he was in detention for five years The Supreme Court had in July this year upheld the October 11, 2018 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the juvenile be examined afresh to ascertain whether he should be tried as an adult or not for the alleged crime.

The high court had set aside a lower court order which had in May 2018 upheld the JJB's earlier decision that the juvenile should be tried as an adult. The CBI had taken up the case from the district police on September 22, 2017 following a massive uproar over the gruesome killing. The agency, in a charge sheet, had alleged that the accused, a Class 11 student at that time, had murdered the child in a bid to get the 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 in the Bhondsi area here.

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The counsel for the accused had challenged the JJB's earlier order in the sessions court, saying it was "bad in law" and passed without giving him a proper opportunity to present his case. The court had barred the media from using the name of the juvenile accused in the case and asked it to use fictitious names instead. While the seven-year-old victim was referred to as "Prince" by the court, the juvenile accused was called "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 Gurugram Police, saying there was no evidence to prove his involvement in the crime.