Ryan murder case: Juvenile ‘highly aggressive, short-tempered’

GURUGRAM : The Class XI student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, who is accused of murdering the Class 2 student of the same school, will face trail as an adult. The court’s decision was influenced largely by the social investigation and psychological reports on the Class XI student, which has highlighted his troubled behaviour at school, and adverse feedback from some school teachers.
Based on the two reports, both of which clearly show the juvenile was mentally capable of planning a heinous offence, he has been termed “highly aggressive”. School teachers have confirmed he had in the past hatched a plot to poison the school’s drinking water tank. The reports also say the juvenile’s IQ level is average, and that his parents had regular fights with each other.
According to sources, both reports submitted before court highlight the juvenile’s nature as short-tempered, hyper-aggressive, and his not-so-cordial relations with his parents. He was once caught drunk inside school; and had a habit of picking fights on trivial issues.

The reports say the juvenile was mischievous and had caused trouble in school on several occasions. “Some of the school teachers had given adverse comments against the juvenile, which were highlighted in the expert committee report,” said his counsel, Sandeep Aneja. He added that neighbours, however, had nice things to say about the juvenile.
Specifically, the social investigation report says the juvenile was a “spoilt child”. Though he was good at music, he was below average in studies, used cell phone in school and was aggressive. He was restless and lacked stability. Just after the murder, he sat for an exam but couldn’t write anything. On being asked by a teacher why, he had claimed the sight of Pradhyumn, with blood oozing out, had upset him. The juvenile also appears to have often been depressed because of constant fights between his parents.
The report says he was aggressive towards classmates and used to shout at other children.
The fact that the juvenile was no stranger to the victim — both were attending piano lessons in school — was also pointed out in the reports. The way he committed the crime and behaved after it, and the deft way in which he became witness in the case during the preliminary police investigation, was pointed out in the reports as pointers to his mental state.
On September 8, the juvenile, after reaching school, left his school bag in his classroom and returned to the ground floor with a knife, which he had bought from a shop in the marketplace in Sohna. He immediately spotted Pradhyumn entering the school premises. Knowing his victim, it was easy for him to lead the latter into the washroom, ostensibly to seek a favour, where he slit Pradhyumn’s throat.
The psychological report also mentions that the juvenile has an average IQ, had exam phobia and wanted to postpone the examination at any cost. The juvenile had little interest in studies due to hostile atmosphere in his home.
Countering the expert committee report, Aneja said if CBI’s theory — that the juvenile is the culprit — is to be believed, then the juvenile had committed the offence just to postpone a PTA (parent-teacher meeting). “This shows how immature the juvenile was, which is why he shouldn’t be treated as an adult,” said Aneja.