Pune Porsche crash: 17-yr-old may be tried as adult, father in police custody; top points

Pune Porsche accident: The Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the bail that was granted three days ago to the 17-year-old minor, involved in a car accident that claimed two lives in Kalyani Nagar. The furore over the quick bail granted to the minor accused – along with the 300-word essay on road accidents that he was asked to write – prompted the police to seek a review of the bail order, which they claim have been subsequently cancelled.

The father Vishal Agarwal, a real estate developer, is now in police custody.

Here are the top developments in the Pune Porsche crash:

• Pune Police is awaiting an order for the minor to be tried as an adult in this case. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said a review application has been filed before the Juvenile Justice Board to allow the juvenile to be tried as an adult and also to send him to a remand home. The order on the plea is awaited.
• While the police have claimed that the bail has been cancelled, the lawyer appearing for the minor accused, Prashant Patil, has said that there has been no cancellation of bail. He said that the bail order has been modified but not cancelled. He said the board ordered the minor to be taken to a rehab home. 
• The minor has been sent to an observation home till June 5 as per an order by the Juvenile Justice Board, said Kumar.
• Police argued that the teenager should stay at a rehab home as there could be threat to his life outside, but the defence opposed the plea, said the lawyer.  
• Patil said that the process of determining whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult takes months as it includes reports of psychiatrists and counsellors among others, before the JJB gives its judgement. 
• Meanwhile, along with the juvenile’s father, the sessions court also remanded two employees of Hotel Black Club, Nitesh Shevani and Jayesh Gavkar, in police custody till May 24. The juvenile had reportedly consumed alcohol at Hotel Black Club and was drunk at the time of the accident.
• A case has been registered against the owner and employees of the two bars the boy had visited before the accident for ‘serving alcohol to an underage person’. 
• The police have also registered a case under Sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act against the father. Section 75 deals with ‘willful 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’.
• As per the FIR, the father gave his son the Porsche car despite knowing that the minor did not have a driving licence, thus endangering the lives of others, as well as allowed him to party even when he knew the minor drinks alcohol. 
• Police have registered an FIR under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304 A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving) and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act against the minor.
• The prosecution wanted the police custody of the father and the other two to determine why the minor was allowed to drive a car with no number plate.
• The Pune Porsche accident claimed the lives of Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta – both 24, from Madhya Pradesh, and working in Pune – who were on a motorbike when the minor’s vehicle crashed with them in the early hours of Sunday.
• As per the controversial bail order passed by the JJB, which has come under severe scrutiny, the minor’s grandfather had given an assurance that he would keep the teenager away from bad company and that he will concentrate on his study or any vocational course which is useful for his career. The order further stated: The CCL (Child-in-Conflict with Law) will write an essay of 300 words on the topic of road accidents and their solutions.”