The sensational Ryan murder case not just shook the conscience of an entire nation but also has now exposed the collective failure of police, media and law.
Two months into the case, it’s now clear that the bus conductor Ashok Thakur, the original accused was most probably made a scapegoat in the case to protect the real culprit. The CBI on Wednesday, in a twist, framed a class 11 student for the heinous crime, raising questions over how the Gurgaon Police zeroed in on bus conductor as the murderer.
This new twist threw up a lot of pertinent questions emphasising how easily the poor get blamed and how conveniently our corrupt police gets away with anything.
Old Haryanavi wisdom about their police: yeh toh rassi ka bhi saanp bana sakte hain (they can twist a rope into a snake) comes true in #Ryan case. As @BhardwajAnanya report shows https://t.co/RFLlOLQ9rJ
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) November 9, 2017
Every time there’s a heinous crime, why do we always arrest a poor guy who can’t defend himself? Like the bus conductor in the Ryan school case. Now CBI says a class 11 student actually committed the murder.
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) November 8, 2017
If CBI’s findings on #Pradyuman murder in #Ryan are true, they show:
1. How easily we first blame the poor for crime2. We’re turning our kids into beasts with pressure of performance. Class XI boy wanted to defer PTM, exams3. Large parts of police remain corrupt or incompetent— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) November 8, 2017
Horrifying how we went after the bus conductor, accusing him of murder and paedophilia. Bar council even refused to take his case up. Shame on cops, lawyers, media. Shame on all of us for letting Ashok Kumar down. Our hate for the poor visceral as ever #Ryan
— Jairaj Singh (@JairajSinghR) November 9, 2017
Ashok kumar is a free man now,but the torture and humiliation suffered by him,must be compensated.
Poor young Thakur was at the wrong place at wrong time,the perpetrator has confessed,wait for the punishment. – https://t.co/T6YoKiIkx6— virendra verma (@babooo38) November 9, 2017
CBI has exposed Gurgaon Police’s cover up
After investigations, CBI gave the conductor a clean chit by pinning the blame on the Class 11 student. The CBI has not found any evidence so far against him, who was the Gurgaon police’s sole accused in the gruesome killing and also did not find any evidence of sexual assault.
CBI sources also told India Today that the bus conductor was interrogated by agency’s investigators and said that Gurgaon Police coerced him into confessing to Pradyuman’s murder.
The media and police must apologise for this botched up investigation
More than anything, the Haryana police has to be made accountable for such gross incompetence and be punished for framing an innocent man. Media spotlight also might have made the police overlook crucial clues and led them to conduct a hasty investigation.
But how will the police compensate Thakur for what they did? Will the policemen who did this be punished?
Media too is responsible for tarnishing the bus conductor’s image and damaging his reputation for life. Branded a murderer, cursed, demonised–the media left no stone unturned to make the public loathe him.
Who will compensate Ashok Kumar, the Ryan school bus conductor , wrongly accused of murder? What hell he must have gone through. Most unfair.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) November 9, 2017
Ashok now wants an answer
Ashok, on Friday, said he will file a case against the Haryana police and school’s management for torturing and defaming him.
Mohit Verma, Rohtak-based counsel for Ashok Kumar told Hindustan Times, “The police had planted everything. They framed an innocent man. Who pressurised the police to do [that] is a matter of investigation, but whatever happened to Ashok amounts to torture,” he added.
What had happened?
Eight-year-old Pradyuman Thakur was found dead with his throat slit inside the school washroom on the morning of September 8. His body was discovered by fellow school students.
The Gurugram Police had initially arrested the school bus conductor alleging that he had tried to sodomise the victim and later killed him when he raised an alarm. The case was later transferred to the CBI by the Haryana government on September 22.
