The Bombay High Court Thursday rejected the transit anticipatory bail applications filed by trustees of Ryan International Group of Institutions in connection with the murder of a Class II student in Gurgaon’s Ryan International School last week. The court, however, continued their interim protection from arrest till 5 pm Friday.
This interim protection was granted on the condition that the group’s CEO, Ryan Pinto, and his parents, founding chairman Augustine Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto, deposit their passports with the Mumbai Commissioner Police or any other officer authorised by the city police chief by 9 pm Thursday. The protection was sought by their counsel Niteen Pradhan to allow them to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek pre-arrest bail in the matter. Rejecting their applications, Justice Ajay Gadkari said, “If you fail to deposit the passports, then the interim protection will also stand rejected.”
He added: “The anticipatory bail applications stand rejected. At this stage, the counsel seeks that the interim protection granted to them since Tuesday be extended. The same is extended till 5 pm on Friday.”
Seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur was found with his throat slit in a washroom on the school premises on September 8. Barun Thakur, the child’s father, had also approached the Bombay High Court to file an intervention application opposing the Pintos’ anticipatory bail pleas. On Thursday, his counsel Sushil Tekriwal argued that the Pintos were seeking “wider relief in the garb of a transit bail application”. “Moreover, their prayer should be rejected keeping in view the nature of offence,” he said, adding that their present approach was “escapist”.
The state of Maharashtra also opposed the bail, citing several court orders, and said the jurisdiction for seeking anticipatory bail lay in Haryana.
The Pintos’ lawyer argued, “We are seeking to protect our interests. Allow us to go before the appropriate court and we will participate in the investigation.”
