Pune teen must be tried as adult, says top cop amid outrage over bail
PUNE, MAY 20 : The 17-year-old son of a real estate developer, who killed two people by running them over with his sports car, should be tried as an adult, Pune’s Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar told India Today TV.
The commissioner’s statement comes amid outrage over the bail granted to the teen, who ran his Porsche over a couple who were on a two-wheeler in Kalyani Nagar area. The teen, who was under the influence of alcohol, was granted bail by a local court within 14 hours, citing that the crime was not “serious” enough to deny bail.
Besides this, he was let go on certain conditions, including writing a 300-word essay on the “effect of road accidents and their solution”.
Here are the latest updates on the Pune Porsche crash:
Speaking to India Today TV, CP Amitesh Kumar said, “The accused were booked under IPC Section 304. We moved the court to treat the accused as an adult since it is a heinous crime as defined under Section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act. However, the court disallowed our application.”
“We have appealed against this order in a higher court yesterday. We will not leave any stone unturned to prove that this is a heinous crime,” he added.
The incident took place on early morning of May 19, Sunday. The teenager, who was with his friends, was driving his Porsche at a high speed in the Kalyani Nagar area when he crashed into a two-wheeler, killing the two people on it.
The car was registered in his father’s name and did not have a number plate, the police said.
The deceased have been identified as Anis Dudhiya and Ashwini Costa. They were married and worked in the IT sector.
While Costa died on the spot, Dudhiya died during treatment at a hospital.
The accused minor and two others who were in the Porsche were detained and taken to the police station. However, he was granted bail within 14 hours as a lower court of Juvenile Justice Board the crime not “serious” enough to deny bail.
The court also set some several conditions on his release, including working alongside traffic police for 15 days, seeking rehabilitation at a de-addiction centre, and writing a 300-word essay on the “effect of road accidents and their solution”.
CCTV visuals of the accident spot show the passers-by taking out the accused minor and his friends from the car and thrashing them.
Another CCTV footage shows the accused teen and his friends sitting in bar and drinking liquor.
The father of the accused and the bar which served liquor to accused are being proceeded against under Sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
Prashant Patil, the lawyer of the accused teen, said, “We are on the inital case of investigation. We are following process of law. The investigating agencies have done their work. The accused is entitled to get bail. Everyone is acting as per the law. We will argue on the merits of law.”
Akhilesh Awadhiya, the uncle of one of the victims, Anis Dudhiya, said the bail conditions imposed on the minor was ridiculous and lashed out at the Maharashtra Police for inaction. He called the minor driver a “human bomb”.
“According to the new act, the punishment should be seven years. Bail conditions are ridiculous. They are even taught even to students of Class 5. He was driving a car worth Rs 3 crore. Just because he is the son of a business tycoon, he was released,” Awadhiya said.
-The India Today
