By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Francis Thomas, the administrator of Ryan International School, where a 7-year-old boy was murdered last week, on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court urging it to transfer the case from Gurgaon to a Delhi court. Thomas was arrested for negligence in the murder of the boy on September 10, two days after he was found with his throat slit outside a school toilet.
Thomas was represented by senior advocate KTS Tulsi who told a bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra that lawyers in Gurgaon and neighbouring Sohna were not ready to represent him or other accused in the case. Tulsi told the bench that the District Bar Associations of both places had passed a resolution on September 9 not to defend the accused.
Tulsi said every accused has the right to be represented for a fair trial and not allowing any lawyer to appear for them is against their fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution.
Lawyers from Delhi were physically prevented from appearing in the district court, Tulsi said, adding it amounted to denial of justice and violated the accused’s right to fair trial. Francis wants the case to be heard by a Saket court.
Meeting deferred
A high-level meeting between union ministers Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar scheduled for Wednesday to develop a protocol for educational institutions to ensure safety of students has been deferred.
Officials of the ministries of Women and Child Development and Human Resource Development, as well as representatives of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, CBSE, NCERT and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, were to attend the meeting.
