New Delhi, Sept. 18: The Supreme Court today refrained from transferring the murder trial of seven-year-old schoolboy Pradhyuman Thakur from Gurgaon to Delhi but warned that there should be no "impediments" to the accused being represented by lawyers.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud passed the directive while declining to entertain a plea by two arrested officials of Ryan International School, the Gurgaon institution where Pradhyuman was found with his throat slit in a toilet on September 8 after he resisted sexual abuse by a bus conductor.

The two officials had sought transfer of the trial as lawyers in Gurgaon were being prevented from appearing for the accused.

The directive came after the Gurgaon Bar Association informed the court that a resolution passed by it against representing the accused because of the heinous nature of the crime had been withdrawn. The association also told the bench it would allow the accused to be represented by their lawyers of choice.

Earlier, former attorney-general and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Francis Thomas, the head of the school's northern zone, urged the court to transfer the trial to Delhi. Rohatgi said the accused were entitled to the protection of Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution. Thomas is one of the two arrested, the other being Joyesh Thomas. Both have been charged with negligence.

After the bar association assured the court the resolution had been withdrawn, the bench said the trial shall proceed under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in Gurgaon. The court warned the bar association would face action if it created any hindrance to the trial.