Picture this: you indulge in drink driving, and then allegedly run over two people, killing them. What would be your punishment by law? In case of a 17-year-old in Pune, he was granted bail for the incident on the condition that he writes an essay on the crash and works with the traffic police for 15 days.
While it may sound incredulous and unbelievable, it is, in fact, a shocking truth. A teen in Pune has been let off on bail on the condition that he work with Pune’s Yerwada traffic police, compose an essay on the accident, undergo treatment for alcohol dependency and then submit a report thereafter.
The incident has left many balking at the court’s decision. Pune’s Police has, in fact, said that the teen should be tried as an adult, adding that they would appeal to a higher court now.
And on Tuesday (21 May), the father of the accused teen has been detained in the crime.
We take a closer look at the entire incident, the laws involved and what society has to say about this.
The incident
In the wee hours of Sunday (19 May), Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both 24, died when the motorbike they were on was hit by a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old in the Kalyani Nagar locality of Pune in the western state of Maharashtra. While Ashwini died on the spot, Aneesh was shifted to a city hospital, where he died soon after.
Investigating the matter, the Pune Police then arrested a 17-year-old, who they believed was behind the wheel of the luxury car when it hit the bike. Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that the minor, belonging to a prominent realtor’s family, was celebrating his Class XII results at a local pub, where he was seen consuming alcohol before the crash.
While he was heading home from the bar, the teen lost control of the car and rammed into a motorcycle at the Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am.
“Upon inquiry, the minor has said his father had handed over the grey Porsche to him despite knowing that he had no driver’s training and did not have a driver’s licence. He has also said his father allowed him to party with his friends and that his father was aware that he was consuming alcohol,” reads the FIR registered by Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari at Yerwada Police Station, as per an Indian Express report.
Following the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Pune City Police Vijay Kumar Magar arrested the juvenile, after booking him for rash and negligent driving, as well as causing harm by endangering life or personal safety under IPC sections 304A, 279, 337, 338, and 427, in addition to relevant sections of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act.
Teen granted bail, outrage ensues
After being apprehended, the 17-year-old was produced before the holiday court on Sunday afternoon where authorities sought his custody and permission to try him as an adult. However, the court refused and
granted him bail
within 14 hours of the crime under certain conditions.
The police stated that bail was granted as the court did not find the crime committed by the juvenile to be serious.
The teen’s lawyer, Prashant Patil, said the court granted bail on certain conditions. First, the teen would have to “work with traffic police of Yerwada for 15 days”. Secondly, he would have to pen a 300-word essay on the ‘effect of road accident and their solution’. As part of his bail conditions, the teen accused would also have to undergo treatment from a doctor to help him quit drinking and “take psychiatric counselling” and submit the report to the court.
After news broke of the bail conditions in the matter, outrage ensued, with many accusing the judge of going soft on the accused. Many expressed their contempt for the system on X; some calling the Indian judiciary “a joke”. Another wrote, “Hope the criminal writes a good essay to impress the honourable judge. Just can’t express how I feel about it.”
Family of the two victims also expressed anger at the court’s decision. Koshta’s family in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh said they were dismayed by the bail conditions. “We are in shock,” her uncle Jugal Kishor Koshta told NDTV. “It is condemnable that he should get bail. He and his parents should be investigated.”
Koshta’s other uncle told NDTV, “We want his bail cancelled and he should remain in police custody. Because of him, an innocent girl, who has seen nothing of life, died.”
Awadhiya’s family also echoed similar sentiments. Atmaram Awadhiya, the grandfather, said that the teen should not be granted bail. “Two people have died in this accident. This is completely wrong. We want strict punishment. The bail granted to the accused should be cancelled,” he was quoted as telling NDTV.
The victim’s uncle also chimed in, saying: “The accused, a minor, was drunk and was driving at 240 km per hour. He did not have a driving licence. This is murder, not accident.”
Following the outrage, Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reached out to the Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and asked him to ensure there was no soft-pedalling against the accused in the Porsche hit-and-run case. And following this, Commissioner Kumar said that they would appeal the order in a higher court. “We will not leave any stone unturned to prove that this is a heinous crime,” he was quoted as telling India Today.
Father detained
On Tuesday (21 May), the Pune Police
detained the father
of the teen accused from Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly known as Aurangabad, and will bring him back to the city for further probe.
The father, a prominent realtor in Pune, was on the run since the incident. He has now been booked under the provision of sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act on the charges of allowing his minor son to drive the Porsche and consume liquor. Section 75 deals with “wilful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses,” while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.
According to the FIR lodged in connection with the incident, the man, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving licence, gave him the car, thus endangering the latter’s life, and allowed him to party even as the father knew that he consumes liquor.
Apart from this, the Pune police have arrested Cosie restaurant owner Pralhad Bhutda and manager Sachin Katkar and Hotel Blak manager Sandip Sangle for allegedly serving alcohol to the juvenile, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shailesh Balkawade said.
What the law says
The accused teen has been charged under Section 304A of the IPC, which deals with causing death by negligence. Moreover, he has been charged with Section 279 of the IPC, which deals with rash driving.
But then why has his father been arrested? As per the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, parents/guardians of juveniles shall be held guilty in case of an offence by a juvenile. The law mandates that a fine of Rs 25,000 with three years’ imprisonment will be imposed and the juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act while the registration of the vehicle will be cancelled.
The law also states that the juvenile shall not be granted a driver’s licence until the minor has attained the age of 25.
This change was introduced after a parliamentary panel had suggested higher penalties for traffic offences. In fact, the panel had recommended treating accidents caused by drink driving as pre-meditated crimes rather than as cases of ‘negligence’.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
