The final arguments on whether the juvenile accused in the murder of seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur will be treated as an adult or not have concluded. The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) has reserved its decision on the teenager and will pronounce its verdict on December 13.
On Friday the JJ Board heard the arguments on the CBI application for fingerprints of the 16-year-old accused and an application moved by the boy’s father, accusing the CBI questioning him beyond permissible time of 6 pm and reserved its decision on the same.
Although the Juvenile’s counsel opposed seeking fingerprints of the Juvenile, the CBI through the lawyer said it is essential part of their investigation the decision on the plea will also deliver on December 13.
“We have withdrawn an application in which the CBI is revealing the name of the boys during the court proceeding as the other application in the case are much important and at this stage, we don’t want to peruse the application,” Tanveer Ahmed Mir, counsel’s for the teenager, said.
The counsel further said, “We have moved two applications before the board that as of now we didn’t receive the sociological and psychological and any other experts report of the teenager and second was as per under section 15 of the Juvenile Act. The CBI didn’t file any final report into the matter which is mandatory under the act and it should be submitted within the month. So we have urged the board we should go through the report before the verdict is delivered,” Tanveer said.
“The JJ Board should postpone the current hearing on whether the boy remains Juvenile or not. The board should take time and not in hurry to deliver its verdict.
“Under section 15 of the Juvenile act there is no provision of the remand period of juvenile so how the juvenile was sent on the remand. Also as per the Supreme Court guidelines, the investigation agency cannot recreate the crime scene on the incident spot as it can hamper the evidence on the spot. The CBI had taken the teenager on the crime spot and re-created the crime scene. So how we came to know the fingerprint of the boy were latest or old. It could be possible the fingerprint created during the crime scene. That’s why we had opposed the seeking fingerprint of the juvenile before the board,” he added.
“The board on Friday heard the arguments on the several applications and reserved its verdict. Also, the sociological and psychological report of the student has been submitted to the board in a sealed cover. It will be taken into consideration on December 13 and the decisions on all the applications, will be delivered on the same day,” Varun Thakur’s lawyer Sushil Tekriwal, said.
On Wednesday the teenager was produced before the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board by the Central Bureau of Investigation team after his 14-day judicial custody ended on Wednesday. He is presently lodged at an observation home in Faridabad. The accused boy will be kept in judicial custody until December 20.