Parents to blame: SC grants bail to three in 2024 Pune Porsche crash case
The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident case that claimed two lives, while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles, as they don’t have control over their children.
Noting that the accused — Amar Santish Gaikwad (alleged middleman), Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal (parents of two other juveniles in the car) -- had been in custody for 18 months, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan granted bail to them. Sood and Mittal are accused of conspiracy to replace the blood samples of their wards.
“Something needs to be said about the parents of these juveniles. They don’t have control over their children. Substance abuse is another thing but giving them (children) car keys and funds to have a gala time is unacceptable,” the court observed. The bench noted that there are no allegations against the juveniles sitting in the rear seats and their fathers are accused of replacing the blood samples.
“Celebration with substance abuse and then going at a top speed and resulting in the killing of innocent people on the road or innocent people sleeping on the road... The law has to catch up on these people.
“Most importantly, the parents of these juveniles are responsible for handing over the car keys to the children and giving them sufficient funds to have a gala time. This is the problem. These parents have no time to talk to their children, have a dialogue with them and spend time with them. So, what is the solution? Give them money, ATM card,” Justice Nagarathna said.
Senior advocates Siddharth Dave and Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for the parents of the two juveniles, contended they were not responsible for the accident. Advocate Sana Raees Khan, appearing for Gaikwad, argued that the nominal allegation against him is that the driver of the parents of the juvenile handed over Rs 3 lakh to him to give the amount to the assistant of a doctor at the hospital.
She said this allegation, however, was not corroborated by the statement of the driver as he doesn’t mention handing over the said amount to Gaikwad and the alleged amount was not recovered at the instance of the petitioner.
The SC recorded the submission and granted bail to all three accused and directed that they will cooperate with the investigation.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the family of the woman killed in the accident, opposed the bail and said that, besides rash and negligent driving, it was also a case of conspiracy, where blood samples were allegedly swapped at a government hospital that constitutes an offence.
On January 23, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Maharashtra Government on a plea filed by Gaikwad seeking bail in the case. The case relates to a May 19, 2024, incident in which a Porsche car allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol, fatally knocked down two IT professionals in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area.
On January 7, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Maharashtra Government on pleas filed by two other accused seeking bail in the case.
Sood (52) and Mittal (37) were arrested on August 19 last year, as their blood samples were used for tests in connection with two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.
The Bombay High Court on December 16 last year rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the case.
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had granted bail to the minor accused on lenient terms, sparking nationwide outrage. The bail conditions included writing a 300-word essay on road safety.
As bail to the accused juvenile triggered outrage, the Pune police approached the JJB to review its decision.
The board then modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June, the high court ordered the release of the juvenile.
While the juvenile involved in the case was released from an observation home, 10 accused, including his parents, Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital’s staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Sood, Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh, and two middlemen, were sent to jail in the blood sample swapping case.
