Rehan Khan
On Tuesday 2nd July, a Pune court granted bail to the father and grandfather of the juvenile involved in the Porsche car crash in May, in a case related to the alleged kidnapping and wrongful confinement of their family driver. Police reports indicate that the father and grandfather kidnapped the family driver after he left the police station on the night of May 19, following the crash. They allegedly held him at their bungalow and attempted to coerce him into falsely confessing that he was driving the car at the time of the accident, not the juvenile.
The two were booked under sections 342, 365, 368, 506 with 34 of IPC. The father was also charged under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) and the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) for neglecting his responsibilities as a guardian.
The Judicial Magistrate (First Class) granted bail to Vishal Agarwal, the father of the 17-year-old and a prominent builder, and also to his grandfather, both of whom were arrested at the end of May.
“My clients will cooperate with the investigative agency and shall abide by stringent (bail) conditions of the court” Advocate Prashant Patil for the accused persons.
BACKGROUND:
On May 19, 2024, a 17-year-old minor, allegedly intoxicated, crashed a Porsche into a motorcycle, killing two riders. Initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), the minor was later charged under Section 304 IPC on May 21, 2024, following new evidence, including CCTV footage. On May 22, the JJB placed the minor in an Observation Home for rehabilitation due to investigation discrepancies and safety concerns. The stay was extended until June 25, prompting the minor’s paternal aunt to seek a writ of habeas corpus from the Bombay High Court. In her petition, the petitioner alleged that she was forced to file against the respondents (Pune Police) due to their “misuse of process and blatant disregard” for the rule of law. She further criticized the “arbitrary and unlawful detention” of her nephew, a Child In Conflict with Law (CCL), under a remand order issued by the Juvenile Justice Board, Pune. The petition contended that this action violated the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, resulting in the nephew’s “illegal detention.“
A habeas corpus petition is filed to ensure that a person under arrest is presented before the court and judged before he or she can be forced by law to stay in prison.
The petition, filed in the Bombay High Court on June 10, was heard by a division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande. The Court condemned the Juvenile Justice Board’s order, stating that once bail was granted, the minor should not had been forced to stay in the Observation Home and that the extensions of detention that followed were outside their jurisdiction.
On June 25, the Bombay High Court directed the release of the boy from the observation home, ruling that the Juvenile Justice Board’s detention order was unlawful.