Members of the Juvenile Justice Board – specifically the two appointed by the Maharashtra government – have come under scrutiny over widely criticised bail terms for the 17-year-old Pune teen who killed two people while drunk and driving his father’s Rs 2.5 crore Porsche.
A five-member committee led by the Deputy Commissioner of the state’s Women and Child Development department will inquire into the roles of Dr LN Danwade, who released the teen on bail within 15 hours of the horrific incident; the terms included writing a 300-word essay on road safety and bonds worth Rs 15,000. These terms were later modified – after widespread public outrage and the cops indicating they would charge the boy as an adult – and he was sent to a remand home till June 5.
READ | Pune Teen Who Killed 2 Sent To Remand Home Till June 5
There are three members on the state’s Juvenile Justice Board; two are named by the Maharashtra government and the third is drawn from the judiciary. The committee will check if applicable legal provisions were followed while granting bail.
A report will be submitted next week, Prashant Narnawre, the Women and Child Development Commissioner, said.
The Pune Porsche crash case has taken several murky turns since the teen – four months shy of legal driving age and nearly eight years shy of legal drinking age – boy ran over a bike carrying Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, 24-year-old IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh – at 2.15 am May 19.
The boy – whom witnesses said was “heavily drunk” – has been seen on CCTV footage from a city bar with several bottles of alcohol before him and his friends, all of whom were celebrating clearing the Class 12 exam. He reportedly argued with his driver and forced him to hand over the keys to the Porsche Taycan, a high-performance electric sports car.
After the incident, which the families of Mr Awadhiya and Ms Koshta have called “murder”, the teen was taken to the Yerwada Police Station and an initial complaint was filed. He also received bail within hours – on seven flimsy conditions that included writing of the essay and an assurance from his grandfather that the boy would be kept away from “bad company”.
However, subsequent inquiries have unearthed multiple violations of protocol, ranging from the Yerwada cops not filing a report with the Police Control Room or administering immediate blood alcohol tests to allegations he was, instead, fed pizza while in jail.
READ | Twist In Porsche Crash: Cops To Probe Cops, Pizza, Burger Row
Given the teen – the son of a prominent city realtor who has also been arrested, and charged with endangering his son’s life, cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy, had consumed liquor, police sources told NDTV the delay could influence the blood alcohol level reading.
READ | Pune Porsche Crash Teen Not Taken For Medical Test On Time
Two police officers were suspended for these and other lapses.
READ | 2 Cops Suspended For “Not Following Protocol” In Porsche Crash Case
The police has confirmed the blood tests were delayed and then, in a shocking miscarriage of justice, the results hidden and those of a unrelated person presented instead.
Two doctors – who allegedly manipulated the test – and a peon – who reportedly gave the Rs 3 lakh bribe on the family’s behalf – from the state-run Sassoon Hospital have been arrested.
READ | Pune Crash Case: 2 Doctors, Hospital Staff Sent To Police Custody
The police believe one of the doctors – Ajay Tawade – and the teen’s father spoke multiple times on the phone on that day, to offer ” allurements to replace the samples”.
READ | In Pune Drink Driving Case, Police Custody For Minor’s Father, Grandfather
Apart from the father, the boy’s grandfather has also been arrested, as have the owner and staff at the city bar to have served the teen alcohol. The first two have been sent to police custody till May 31. They have denied wrongdoing on their part, arguing they had no prior knowledge of the teen’s actions or intentions – a claim potentially busted by the chain of phone calls between the father and the doctor.
The grandfather has similarly denied charges he threatened, and wrongfully confined, the driver, telling the cops, “I took him with me… spoke for two minutes. Then told him to go to the staff quarters for food.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made his first public comment in this case, declaring he had been in touch with the cops from the first moment and that the law is equal for all.
READ | “Will Spare No One”: Eknath Shinde’s First Remarks
“…there should be no discrimination. No matter how rich or poor a person is, the law is equal for all and no one will be spared. I have ordered strict action,” he said.
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