Accused in Ryan case to be tried as adult: Juvenile board

The school student accused of killing a seven-year-old boy will be tried as an adult, the Juvenile Justice Board said today.

The Board passed the order on Wednesday morning responding to a plea that the teenager accused of the crime should not be treated as a juvenile.

The Board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 student, accused of killing Pradhuman Thakur on the premises of the Ryan International School in Gurugram on September 8.

The lawyer of the victim’s father, Sushil Tekriwal, welcomed the verdict terming it as a “turning point” in the high-profile case. “The verdict of the board that the juvenile will be treated and tried as an adult is historic. The juvenile will now be produced before a sessions court and the judge will then assign the case to the relevant Child Sessions Court for the trial,” said Tekriwal, according to The Hindu report.

The victim’s father is yet to receive the copy of the order. But the court had reportedly based its decision in general, on the findings of the Social Investigation Report and the Psychological Report of the juvenile and the amendments carried out in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 with effect from January 15, 2016. The two reports had suggested that the juvenile was hyper-aggressive, upset and restless.

The father had on November 15, moved an application seeking the trial of the juvenile as an adult. He had argued in the application that the way in which the throat of the child was slit showed that the crime was “horrific” and “serious” in nature.

With PTI inputs