Amid the recent outrage over a Pune builder’s son killing 2 people with his overspeeding Porsche and getting bail within hours, a similar incident from Uttar Pradesh has come to highlight.
The 15-year-old son of a leading Kanpur doctor, whose rash driving took the lives of two persons, Sagar Nishad and Ashish Ram Charan on 26th October last year, has been apprehended after he was involved in another accident in March where he injured four people in the Barra area, and again escaped without any punishment.
The boy was sent to a juvenile home on 22nd May and proceedings commenced against him in the 7-month-old case. The youngster’s father is also facing legal action from Kanpur police for permitting his minor son to drive in spite of the accident on the Ganga Barrage in October 2023. He has been booked for both accidents.
Akhil Kumar, commissioner of Kanpur city, slammed the teen’s family for allowing him to drive again after he was involved in a deadly collision causing loss of lives barely months back. He urged people to behave responsibly and emphasized that the authorities were taking decisive action to combat the problem of underage driving. According to police, the accused struck four persons on 31st March while he was behind the wheel. He was charged with careless driving under sections 279 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code and the injured received first-aid treatment.
An investigation has also been opened into how the local police handled the two incidents because the minor was involved in both cases, and despite the gravity of the crime, he was not taken into custody. Senior officials talked about the recent Pune accident and went over the October case again.
Akhil Kumar issued an order for an update on the probe. He informed, “The minor has been sent to the juvenile home for his role in the Oct 2023 accident that resulted in two deaths. We have also taken action regarding the recent Barra accident (in which four were injured) six weeks ago.”
Police will also prosecute the minor’s friend, whose car he was driving in the October accident. “We are consulting legal experts to determine the parents’ responsibility for the teenager’s actions in both cases,” the senior official stated. Section 304A (causing the death of a person by an act of negligence not amounting to culpable homicide) was previously invoked against him which was replaced by Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), based on Additional Commissioner of Police (law & order) Harish Chandra. He added that an initiative would be launched in schools to educate children about the dangers of driving when underage.
Pune Porsche case
There is significant social media outrage over the authorities and even the judiciary allegedly showing ‘lenience’ to high-profile, rich offenders involved in grave hit-and-run incidents. On Sunday, 19 May, the 17-year-old son of a real estate tycoon in Pune hit and killed 2 bike-borne persons while overspeeding under the influence of alcohol. The deaths of Aneesh and Ashwini provoked widespread outrage as the millionaire’s boy was granted bail within 15 hours and directed to work with the Yerwada traffic police for 15 days as well as write a 300-word essay on road accidents.
Following nationwide outrage over the blatant leniency, the Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the bail and sent the offender to remand house till 5th June. His father, builder Vishal Agarwal was also arrested and remanded in police custody till 24th May by a sessions court. Additionally, the juvenile board has been approached by the police to request a review of the decision to release the boy on bond. Pune police have made it clear that they want the offender tried as an adult for the heinous crime. The boy is just few months short of turning 18.
A First Information Report has been registered against him under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304 A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. The high-end Porsche was also unregistered and was running on the streets in blatant violation of laws.
