Ryan school murder: Juvenile accused in Pradhyumn Thakur killing to be tried as adult

The 16-year-old juvenile accused in the Ryan School murder case will be tried as an adult, the Juvenile Justice Board ruled on Wednesday. The Class 11 student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, is accused of slitting the throat of 7-year-old Class 2 student Pradhyumn Thakur in the school toilet on September 8.

While delivering the verdict, the board said the offence allegedly committed by him was "heinous".Transferring the case to the sessions court, the board held that the circumstances show the teenager was “mature enough” to understand the consequences of his act and to think of ways to escape punishment.

While the boy’s family expressed disappointment over the order, victim Pradhyumn Thakur’s family said it was satisfied, adding they were fighting to set a precedent so that the killing spree by kids would stop. “We were hopeful since the beginning that justice will come our way though it’s long way to go, but the first hurdle is over” said Barun Thakur, father of the 7- year-old.

Welcoming the order, Thakur family’s counsel said the case will become a milestone in criminal history and teenagers will think twice before thinking of any criminal activity.

The board rubbished the plea that the offence of 302 IPC (murder) -which entails a maximum punishment of 10 years - not be made against the boy. This is significant because according to Section 2(33) of the new JJ Act, “heinous offences” include the offences for which minimum punishment under IPC or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more.

The juvenile’s counsel said he would soon challenge the order in sessions court.

The ruling means the boy will be tried by a sessions court which hears cases of serious crimes against adult offenders. However, he could still get some relief from the court as the new JJ Act has a provision for the court to take a re-look and decide whether the teenager is to be tried as an adult or not.

The JJB arrived at its decision after examining the boy’s physical and mental ability and after hearing lengthy arguments on the police’s plea, which were strongly opposed by the teenager’s counsel, Sandeep Aneha, who had argued that the main purpose of JJ Act is to ensure a juvenile’s welfare.

The JJB also relied on a December 5 report of a clinical psychologist regarding the boy and his social background submitted by Nisha Saini on November 21.The report said the boy in no manner lacked the mental and physical capacity to commit the alleged offence

Referring to the report in its order, the JJB said it indicated the accused “has a mature mind although he has immature problem-solving skills. The IQ level of the boy was 95 which means the boy was average.” According to sources, the JJB also observed that the teenager confessed and later retracted from his confession alleging he was tortured in CBI custody.