Pradyuman murder case: Juvenile accused to be treated as adult, says JJB

The Juvenile Justice Board said on Wednesday that the 16-year-old student, accused of the murder of Pradyuman Thakur at Gurgaon’s Ryan International School, will be treated as an adult. 

The accused will undergo a regular trial in a court and will be produced in court on Friday, the the Juvenile Justice Board said.

If convicted, he will stay in a correctional home till he turns 21-years-old and then will be transferred to jail, it said.

The family and lawyers of the seven-year-old Ryan school student who was murdered inside the school premises in September, had demanded that the Class XI boy apprehended in the case by the CBI be tried as an adult and be given strict punishment.

"We demand strict punishment for the class XIth student. The (Juvenile Justice) Board also has the option of having him tried as an adult. The CBI has apprehended him based on evidence and we will assist the CBI and the court to ensure he is not allowed to go scot-free, is tried as an adult and hanged till death," Sushil Tekriwal, the lawyer representing the victim's family, had said.

Pradyuman was found dead with his throat slit by a sharp-edged weapon on the morning of September 8.

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The CBI did not find any evidence against bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was the Gurgaon Police's sole accused in the gruesome killing.

The murder weapon, a knife, was found in the commode of the toilet where the killing allegedly took place.

According to CBI, the Class 11 student, believed to be weak in studies, allegedly slit Pradyuman's throat to get the school to declare a holiday in order to defer a scheduled parent-teacher meeting (PTM) and an examination.
The CBI was able to piece together elements of the crime by analysing the CCTV footage, scientific and forensic examination, analysis of the crime scene and by questioning students, teachers and staff of the school, an official said.

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(With inputs from PTI)