A three-judge bench of Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of a teenager accused of killing a 7-year-old boy at a private school in Gurgaon in 2017, said media reports.
The bench headed by Justice RF Nariman, also comprising Justices Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee, dismissed the bail plea filed by the accused that challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court order.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had denied bail to the accused in the 2017 murder case.
“We have heard counsel for all parties exhaustively including learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant. Since the petitioner is now being tried for the purposes of bail only as an adult, we see no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment of the High Court at this stage. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petition is dismissed,” said the bench .
The CBI opposed the bail plea saying the accused does not deserve any leniency and contended that the Juvenile Justice Act cannot be used as a ploy to dupe the course of justice.
The accused had argued before the Supreme Court that the high court had erroneously observed that there is possibility of tampering of witnesses in the case. He said due the prevailing coronavirus pandemic situation, there is very less possibility of trial to commence in the near future.
Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for the victim’s father, had also opposed the bail plea saying the accused can be a serious threat.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in June had dismissed the bail plea filed by the accused and said in its order, “This court is not inclined to grant any relief to the petitioner, in view of the order dated February 28, 2019, passed by Supreme Court, directing that for deciding the bail application, the petitioner be treated as an adult; therefore, there is little scope for this court to find out whether the petitioner can be granted the relief under Section 12 of Juvenile Justice Act.”
The CBI had said the accused had killed the 7-year-old student within the school premises on September 8, 2017, in a bid to postpone the exams and cancel a scheduled parents-teachers meeting.