The horrifying murder of a little school boy in Gurgaon's Ryan International School shook up an entire nation and made us take stock of the safety and security of the innocent young children we entrust into the care of others each day. At the time the bus conductor was arrested and it was a matter of speculation whether the right person had been arrested or not. Now that a Class XI boy from the same school has been arrested, it appears that the speculation was not unfounded.
When the bus conductor was arrested for the murder of little Pradyuman of Ryan International School, on the very next day, many wondered whether the investigations were properly carried out or whether the investigation agencies were simply responding to public outcry by arresting the first possible suspect and making a scapegoat out of him.
The bus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested on some rather flimsy evidence – that he had access to the children's bathrooms and that he was known to carry a knife. The arrest was so promptly made that one had to wonder whether proper investigations were carried out at all. There was also speculation about family feud or business rivalry being behind the murder of the little boy.
Now however, a class eleven boy of the same school has been arrested. The boy who has now been taken into custody is described as “aggressive and a bully”. Classmates have said that the boy wanted to do something ‘big’ to postpone the exams and the parent teacher meeting. If this was the objective of the murder, it was met since the exams were in fact canceled after the murder of Pradyuman.
The arrested boy is also known for violent behavior and is said to have carried a knife to school. A class mate also said that the boy was addicted to porn, would watch it even during school hours and that he had been receiving psychiatric treatment for a year.
While our investigation agencies often show sagacity and talent even with a paucity of resources, at other times, all too often investigations get botched up and cave into public pressure or pressure from the 'top'. In this matter, the bus conductor was an easy scapegoat for investigative agencies – a poor man without any clout or connections. A murder and sexual assault charge was conveniently tacked - to fabricate a motive - on to the hapless man who languished in prison for weeks for no fault of his own.
The idea of a depraved, violent and consciousness-less person belonging to the underprivileged section of society also fit neatly into the narrative and satisfied the middle and upper classes who were baying for the blood of the murderer; any murderer.
If the investigation agencies were grossly neglectful and incompetent in this matter, this is hardly the first time this has happened. Only recently, the Talwars were released after a guilty verdict in the matter of the murder of their daughter Aarushi Talwar, which was overturned by an appellate court. In this matter as well, the investigation was grossly botched up, evidence mishandled and the wrong persons arrested and convicted for the crime.
In the Ryan International case, the CBI deduced that the class XI boy was likely responsible with the help of CCTV footage which showed him to be the last to leave the bathroom area where Pradyuman was found murdered. Later it was also said that the boy had confessed to his crimes. But then such a claim about a confession was also made when Ashok Kumar was arrested. Is this just another convenient scapegoating of someone who may only have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and someone who, owing to his personality profile seems to fit the bill as a possibly psychotic and deviant murderer? This is a pattern of mishandling that appears repeatedly in several high profile cases that attract a lot of media coverage and public outcry,
If Ashok Kumar is given the clean chit now, why was he made to spend so long in jail? Why is he still accused of tampering with evidence in this case? Will anyone be held responsible for the cavalier disregard for the man’s rights and his liberties? In fact it is important to also ask – was anyone punished for the years the Talwars spent in jail and the energy and resources they had to expend just to be exonerated for a murder they did not commit?
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