Even as Haryana Education Minister Rambilas Sharma on Sunday announced that the management of the Ryan International School, Gurugram, and owner AF Pinto have been booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile (Care and Protection of Children) Act over the killing of seven-year-old student Pradyuman Thakur inside the school campus on Friday, angry parents protested outside the school demanding justice to the slain student's family. 50 people were hurt in the melee.
The Minister said the school administration has ignored the security on the premises. The boundary wall of the school was not up to the mark and there were several ways of friendly entry and exit in the school. Also, the window of the toilet in which the boy's body found was shattered.
The Education Minister said the chargesheet in the case will be ready within a week as the police were speedily conducting the probe. He, however, added that if the parents of the child insist on a probe by the CBI or any other agency, the Government will accede to their demand.
Sharma said the Government has fixed a seven-day deadline in the case where the accused is booked under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for murder).
“This is the minimum time in such cases,” he said.
While the Education Minister was reeling out measures and actions to punish the guilty, hundreds of angry parents and relatives staged demonstrations outside Ryan International School demanding a CBI probe into the murder and set afire a liquor shop near the school.
The liquor shop was functioning in gross violation of laid down rules that prohibits sale of liquor in the vicinity of educational institutions. The protesters alleged that school drivers and conductors often consume alcohol from the liquor shop in their free time.
At least 50 people, including nine scribes and photo journalists, were injured when police baton-charged a group of people protesting the brutal murder and demanding the arrest of the school management.
Police used batons to quell the protest and detained 20 protesters. Cameras of some photojournalists were also damaged.
Some of the demonstrators threw liquor bottles inside school premises to vent their ire, police said.
They demanded that the school should be shut until a CBI probe is ordered into the incident.
"We were protesting peacefully outside the school but police suddenly started baton-charge on us without any provocation," said a protester. The journalists covering the protest were also injured.
"TV journalists Sunil Yadav, Sushil Kumar, and photojournalists Yogesh Kumar and Abhishek were injured and have been admitted to the civil hospital," said senior journalist Naveen Panchal. "Yogesh Kumar suffered a fracture in his right hand while Abhishek's left hand was fractured," he said.
Senior journalist Mahavir Yadav from a national Hindi daily, and fellow journalists Pawan Sethi, Sanjay Chauhan, lok Kumar and Dinesh Kumar were also injured. The journalists were targetted after a senior police officer allegedly said that "all this (protest) was happening due to the media coverage". An Assistant Commissioner of Police and the area SHO also threatened the journalists to leave the place.
Cameras were also damaged during the police action. Several Press Clubs, Press Associations and social bodies across the State have condemned the police action.
Gurugram Police Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar, however denied the charges of mediapersons being targeted by the cops. "As per my knowledge, a fair warning was given to clear the place and nobody was targeted. However, if any mediaperson has been injured, then I express my regret and we will analyse the entire episode. But there was no intention to target anyone," Khirwar said.
"On behalf of police authorities, I want to request the district administration that the mediapersons should be given best medical treatment," Khirwar said.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited the hospital to meet the injured journalists. "Attack on media was pre-planned and BJP workers and leaders were behind it. Journalists will not get proper treatment in the hospital because it is also run by the State Government," he said.
later, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Vinay Pratap Singh and Additional Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya also visited the hospital.
This came even as the Haryana Education Minister was announcing at a Press conference that the licence of the liquor vend has been cancelled.
Meanwhile, Varun Thakur, father of the murdered student, appealed to people not to get violent during the protests. "We must protest in a peaceful manner," he said.
Police late on Friday arrested Ashok Kumar, a conductor of a school bus, for allegedly killing the child, but many believe that he was only a scapegoat.
Praduman Thakur was found murdered with his throat slit inside the toilet of the Ryan International School on Friday, triggering public outrage.
Gurugram Police had arrested school bus conductor Ashok Kumar. Kumar was inside the toilet, waiting for any student to come inside with the motive of sexual assault. The deceased was the first student who entered the toilet, the police said.