The Kerala High Court on Monday gave the state government more time to file its response on a petition filed by the father of Mohammed Shahabas, a class ten student who died following an attack by a group of students. 

Shahabas' father Muhammed Iqbal filed a petition to prevent the accused students from writing the SSLC examination, scheduled between March 3 and March 27.

Justice C Jayachandran gave the government one more week to file its response after extending the deadline last week at the request of the Public Prosecutor.

Five students from GVHSS Thamarassery have been accused of assaulting Shahabas, a student of MJ Higher Secondary School, Elettil, over a dispute that stemmed from tensions at a farewell party at Triz Institute, a tuition centre in Thamarassery. Shahabas died due to internal haemorrhage caused by a heavy blow to the back of his head. It is said that the accused created Instagram and WhatsApp groups to discuss and decide how to attack Shahabas.

The accused were booked under Sections 103(1) (murder), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 189 (unlawful assembly), 191(2), 191(3) (rioting), 118(2) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt) and 190 of BNS.

The Kozhikode Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) denied bail to the five accused, all under 16, and ordered their transfer to the Government Observation Home for Boys, Vellimadukunnu, until March 15, 2025. However, they were allowed to appear for the SSLC exam under police escort. They attended some exams at the observation home in a specially arranged centre. 

Iqbal argued that the JJB order was passed without conducting any inquiry or assessing the physical and mental capacity of the children. He stated that the board failed to consider that the school was the very place where they allegedly planned the attack and thus, fellow students will be affected by their presence.

Iqbal further said that he suspects undue influence and favouritism, seeing the swift intervention of the educational authorities in facilitating the examination at the Observation Home. He added that the board should protect the right of the deceased child who would have written the exam had the incident not happened. 

The case is posted to March 19.

(With inputs from LiveLaw)