The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the state government and the Central Bureau of Investigation on a petition related to the murder of a seven-year-old boy in a school in Gurugram in 2017, The Times of India reported.
The plea, filed by the child’s father, challenged the state government’s denial to grant permission to prosecute four policemen who had falsely implicated a bus conductor in the case.
On September 8, 2017, a Class 2 student was found with his throat slit inside a washroom of the school. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the accused, who was then a Class 11 student, killed the child to close the school so that an examination and a parent-teacher meeting would be deferred.
The Gurugram police initially arrested a bus conductor, accusing him of murdering and sexually assaulting the child. After the case was transferred to the CBI, the investigation agency detained the Class 11 student in November that year.
The CBI filed a chargesheet against the four police officers in January this year for falsely framing the bus conductor, according to PTI. But the Haryana government refused to grant sanction to prosecute them. The government argued that the police officers made mistakes in the investigation but there were no faults in intent, according to The Times of India.
Also read:
Gurugram school murder: SC refuses bail to teen accused of killing 7-year-old boy in 2017
In his petition before the High Court, the child’s father argued that the policemen had violated his right to rest in peace by falsely framing an innocent person and trying to ensure that the accused was not punished, according to the newspaper.
The petitioner alleged that the Haryana government had failed to take into account the accusations against the policemen, according to the Hindustan Times. He said that it was a case of abuse of power.
“The disclosure statement, statement of witnesses, recovery memos and other relevant material have been completely neglected and ignored by Haryana government,” he added, according to The Indian Express.
After hearing the petition, a bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan directed the Haryana government and the CBI to file their responses by November 8.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!