Murder of Pradyuman Thakur

The Haryana Police were alerted about the incident and arrived at the school at 11:30 AM on the same day.[3] Police officials stated that a blood stained knife was recovered from the area where Pradyuman was found, and a police forensics team examined the area and collected evidence, including fingerprints, from the area.[6] CCTV footage recovered from the hallway near the scene of the crime showed Pradyuman attempting to crawl out of the washroom, while bleeding from the neck, before collapsing in the hallway.[8]

Police detained and questioned ten persons, and observed blood stains on the shirt of Ashok Kumar, a school bus conductor who had assisted with carrying Pradyuman to a car which took him to the hospital.[6] A cellphone video recorded by a witness at the scene of the crime showed school authorities asking Kumar to help pick up Pradyuman to transport him to the hospital.[8] Kumar was arrested by the Haryana Police in connection with the murder at 12 noon, on the same day.[6]

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sumit Kumar, stated that Kumar had arrived with a school bus at 7:50 AM and had gone to the ground floor washroom in the school building, which was commonly used by staff and students. According to the police, he was carrying a vegetable knife that he had found in the bus tool kit, and had gone to the washroom to rinse off the knife before taking it home for his own use. When Pradyuman entered the washroom, the police suggested that Kumar attempted to sexually assault Pradyuman, and on meeting with resistance, had attempted to murder him with the knife, which was left behind at the scene of the crime. Police officers further stated that eyewitnesses, including other students at the school, placed Kumar at the scene of the crime when Pradyuman was assaulted.[6][9]

Haryana Police also initially told a Gurugram court that they believed an additional suspect was involved, and that an attempt had been made to tamper with the crime scene. However, this statement was contradicted by a senior police official who stated to the press that "Only Ashok has murdered Pradyuman, no other person is involved."[5]

Kumar reportedly confessed to the police that he committed the murder, but later claimed he was coerced and did not commit it.[10] He later stated that he had been tortured by the Haryana Police while in custody, and that he had confessed to prevent being further tortured. Kumar stated that he was denied food for two days while in custody, and was repeatedly slapped and beaten by police officials.[11]

Following Kumar's arrest, a Bar Association in Gurugram passed a resolution stating that its members would not defend Kumar against the accusations of murder of Pradyuman Thakur. The Bar Association subsequently retracted their position when he was released on bail after being cleared by the CBI. Kumar's family stated that he was eventually able to obtain legal representation after reaching out through personal connections.[12] The Supreme Court subsequently disciplined the Bar Association for this resolution.[13]

The arrest of Ashok Kumar was met with public doubts and concern, including from Pradyuman Thakur's family.[14][15] Thakur's mother stated later that she had believed the conductor was being framed.[16] Saurabh Raghav, a bus driver working for Ryan International School on the bus which Ashok Kumar conducted, later stated that he was pressured by the Gurugram Police to state that the knife found at the scene of the murder was part of the bus tool kit.[17] A medical examination of Pradyuman Thakur's body ruled out any sexual assault.[8][18] Another witness, a school gardener named Harpal Singh, who was one of the first on the scene to find Pradyuman, stated that he had not seen any bloodstains on Kumar's clothes before he assisted with picking up Pradyuman to take him to hospital.[8] Harpal Singh also stated that he had also been repeatedly physically assaulted by the police in an attempt to force him to confess to the murder.[8]

On 22 November 2017, Kumar was granted bail by a District Court in Gurugram.[19][20] Following the arrest of another student for the murder, Haryana Police stated that while Ashok Kumar had been arrested, no charges had been filed against him as the investigation was still ongoing.[21] The Central Bureau of Investigation subsequently cleared Kumar of any involvement in the murder.[22][23] A forensic investigation by the CBI found that Pradyuman's body had bloodstains that were not matched to himself, and that Kumar was also ruled out forensically as a match. The CBI also stated that the Haryana Police's claim that a semen sample had been found on Pradyuman's body and had been sent for testing could not be confirmed, and that they could not find any evidence that such a sample had been found or tested.[24]

On 28 February 2018, Kumar was acquitted of all charges by a special court.[25] The National Human Rights Commission ordered the Haryana Police to compensate Kumar for the wrongful arrest, but he declined to accept, terming the compensation to be insufficient. Kumar has sought legal action against the police officers who arrested him.[26][27]

The initial investigation of the murder by Gurugram Police was met with wide public criticism, including by Pradyuman's father, Barun Thakur, who filed a petition at the Supreme Court, asking for the investigation to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).[28][29] On 15 September 2017, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that the case had been transferred to the CBI in response to requests by the parents of Pradyuman Thakur, although he affirmed that in his view, the investigation had been correctly handled by the Haryana Police.[9] The Haryana Police also denied any mishandling of the investigation, stating that their findings were preliminary and that the investigation had still been ongoing when it was transferred to the CBI.[30]

Pradyuman Thakur's family stated that they had asked the CBI to investigate the possibility of the involvement of other students at the school in Pradyuman's death, as they had received information that some older students had consumed alcohol in the presence of younger students and had threatened the younger students to prevent them from telling school authorities.[14]

The CBI sent a forensic team to the school to review the evidence and scene of crime independently from the Haryana Police investigation on 22 September 2017 .[31] They took over custody of the persons arrested by the Haryana Police.[31] Following their investigation, the CBI identified a different knife as the murder weapon, stating that they had recovered it from the scene of the crime and that it had been hidden inside one of the washrooms. This contradicted the Haryana Police's statement that a knife recovered at the scene of the crime was the murder weapon.[23]

The CBI also reviewed CCTV footage from the crime scene and found that there were some students visible in the footage apart from Pradyuman Thakur. The CBI worked with the school administration to identify these students and then questioned them.[32]

On 7 November 2017, the CBI arrested an unnamed class XI student, aged 16, from Ryan International School for Pradyuman Thakur's murder, from his home.[33] The student was one of the first on the scene of the crime, and had told school authorities that another student had been injured.[4] The Haryana Police later stated that while they had questioned the unnamed student as a witness, they had found no evidence suggesting that he was responsible for the death of Pradyuman Thakur.[21]

Following his arrest, the Juvenile Justice Board gave the CBI permission to interrogate the student.[34] Based on CCTV footage, the CBI questioned the unnamed student, who could be seen on the footage exiting the washroom around the time that the crime was committed.[23] They also stated later that cellphone records and forensic evidence were used in order to identify the student.[23] Following the arrest, the CBI also took the arrested unnamed student back to the school and recreated the scene of the crime.[23][35] The CBI stated that they were also able to establish that the knife recovered from the washroom had been purchased by the unnamed student at a local market, a few days previously.[34] They also seized his computer and phone and stated that the student's social media was being investigated for evidence regarding the crime.[36]

The CBI further stated to a Juvenile Court in Gurugram that on questioning, the unnamed student had confessed to the murder, in the presence of his father, independent witnesses, and a juvenile welfare officer.[37] The CBI stated that the student had not been performing well academically, and had been unable to write a scheduled exam on the day of the murder. He was also was reported to have three more examinations and a parent-teacher meeting scheduled for that week.[4] A statement from the CBI indicated that they believed the unnamed student killed Pradyuman to postpone his examinations and parent-teacher meetings at the school.[38][33] A CBI official stated to press that the student "...believed that a sensational act would either force the school to shut down for a few days or create enough disruption to cancel the exams and the parent-teacher meeting."[34] The CBI has initially stated that they believe that the choice of victim was random.[39] The unnamed student was quoted as later confirming to the Juvenile Justice Board that he knew Pradyuman as they attended the same music class.[40] The unnamed student's father has subsequently accused the CBI of torturing his son in order to elicit a false confession.[22][41]

The investigation is still in progress.[1]

Following the murder of Pradyuman Thakur, parents of several students filed a police complaint stating that the school had been negligent in maintaining security measures, and particularly pointed out a collapsed boundary wall that allowed access to school grounds, as well as several dysfunctional CCTVs on the school premises, resulting in the arrest of several school officials.[42] A team of Haryana Police travelled to Mumbai to investigate the owners of Ryan International School.[42]

The founders of the Ryan Group of Schools, Augustine and Grace Pinto, and their son, Ryan Pinto, applied for and were denied anticipatory bail at the Bombay High Court, with Pradyuman Thakur's father filing an application to the court opposing their plea.[43] They were also denied anticipatory bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.[44] On appeal to the Supreme Court, senior officials and owners of the Ryan International School were granted a bail order, and the Supreme Court described the proceedings against them as a 'media trial'.[45] Ryan International School management made a motion to the Supreme Court to transfer the case outside Haryana to ensure a fair trial. The court began hearing the case on 18 September 2017.[5]

The Central Board of Secondary Education investigated Ryan International School, and reported to the Supreme Court that school authorities had been negligent in maintaining safety and security conditions on the school premises. The CBSE further found that the school had failed to report the incident to the police when it occurred, and that the police had been contacted by the victim's family.[46]

Following the murder of Pradyuman Thakur, the Haryana government instituted a number of policies aimed at improving school safety. Mandatory police checks on school staff, including transport staff were instituted.[42] The Ministry of Human Resources and Development announced an initiative to train school teachers to address mental health issues following the murder.[52]