The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) has sought a psychologist’s opinion on the mental capacity of the juvenile who was apprehended in connection with the murder of a Class II student at a prominent private school in Gurgaon in 2017.
The board has asked whether any further examination or tests can be of any relevance to determine the mental capacity of the juvenile to commit the crime on the date of the alleged occurrence and whether he was having sufficient maturity and ability to understand the consequences of the offence.
According to the order pronounced Wednesday, the JJB directed the psychologist to submit a report on August 3 before the board.
On July 13, the Supreme Court had dismissed appeals filed by the father of the Class II student and the CBI, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order which asked the JJB to take a fresh call on whether the accused should be tried for the crime as an adult or juvenile.
The SC had left it “to the discretion of the Board or the psychologist who may be consulted as to whether any fresh examination would be of any relevance/assistance”.
The court had upheld the October 11, 2018, order of the High Court which set aside the Board’s “preliminary assessment” that the accused should be tried as an adult, as well as the order of the Additional Sessions Judge (Children’s Court) upholding the decision of the Board.
On September 8, 2017, the child was found murdered, with his throat slit, inside the washroom of the school. Police had arrested a school bus conductor, who had started working at the institute a few months prior to the incident, in connection with the crime on the day of the murder. Gurgaon Police had said at the time that the conductor had allegedly tried to molest the victim and later killed him when he resisted. Police had said that the conductor had confessed to the crime.
Following widespread outrage over the police probe, it was handed over to the CBI. The CBI apprehended a Class 11 student of the school in connection with the murder case on November 7, 2017, with its probe stating that the teenager had committed the murder in a bid to get the examinations postponed and a scheduled parent-teacher meeting cancelled.