Himalaya Harbinger, National Bureau
Three days after the Pune police moved an application seeking a higher court’s permission to try the 17-year-old juvenile boy — who ran down and killed two techies — as an adult, the teenager’s lawyer said that the process could take almost 90 days.
According to lawyer Prashant Patil, the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) has procedures to determine whether the accused Child in Conflict with Law (CCL) is considered a minor or an adult.
It takes almost 90 days to conduct this procedure…If a juvenile or CCL is arrested, investigative agencies must file a charge sheet within 30 days of the arrest to consider them as an adult. After the charge sheet is filed, a two-month procedure follows, which includes psychological and social assessments along with a de-addiction test,” the lawyer said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
He further said that during the procedure, the accused does not need to remain in rehabilitation.
“In response to the applications from investigation agencies to modify the bail issued, the honourable Juvenile Justice Board, on the operative orders, has directed to keep the Child in Conflict with Law in a rehabilitation home for 14 days, until June 5. We have opposed the application based on academic considerations and legal points,” he said.
Patil’s comment came as the Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the bail of the teenager on Wednesday and sent him to a remand home.
Pune Porsche crash incident
The incident took place on Sunday morning in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area when the 17-year-old boy – who was driving a Porsche – collided with a motorcycle, killing two techies identified as Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa. Based on the CCTV footage, the police said that the minor boy was driving the Porsche at a speed of 160 kmph at the time of the accident.
According to the police, the teenager had thrown a party for his friends on Saturday night to celebrate his Class 12 results. The group was drinking at restaurants in the city and driving around at night.
The Pune police have arrested the teen’s builder father under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) and the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) for ‘failing to do his duty as a guardian’. According to the police, the teenager’s father told his driver to give the keys of the newly purchased Porsche Taycan to his son whenever the latter demanded. However, the father’s lawyer denied the charge, saying he had given the car to the driver and not to his son.
Apart from this, the police also arrested two owners of different bars for serving liquor to the minors.
