The aunt of the juvenile-accused in the Pune Porsche car accident case has approached the Bombay High Court alleging that the minor has been unlawfully and arbitrarily detained by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in an observation home.
The plea filed through advocate Swapnil Ambure said that the juvenile should be immediately released.
The matter was heard today by a division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande.
Chief Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, appearing for the JJB, opposed the petition on maintainability. He claimed that the juvenile was remanded to observation home through a legal order.
Senior advocate Abad Ponda, appearing for the petitioner, prayed for immediate release of the juvenile. He also sought time to amend the petition to append the order of June 13 which extended the juvenile’s detention in the observation home.
The division bench granted time to Ponda to amend the petition, but refused to grant any immediate relief without hearing the plea. It posted the matter for hearing on June 20.
The juvenile, a son of a prominent builder in Pune, hit a motorcycle with his Porsche car in Kalyani Nagar area, claiming the lives of two persons. It was later found that the minor had been drinking at a pub with his friends before the accident.
The vehicle reportedly dragged one of the two persons on the bike and finally came to stop after hitting another two wheeler and a car.
He was booked for rash and negligent driving and causing harm by endangering safety of lives and death by negligence under sections 304A, 279, 337 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with provisions of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Act.
He was granted bail on May 19 but was later remanded to an observation home.
The petition before the High Court has sought quashing of the orders passed by the Juvenile Justice Board remanding and extending custody of the the minor.
The petitioner said in the plea that the minor was required to be protected in a manner prescribed under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, so as to ensure that he does not turn into a hardened criminal.
She also pointed out that the juvenile was initially remanded to the custody of his grandfather by the JJB on May 19 while granting him bail but he was later sent to an observation home.
The JJB could not take the minor from the grandfather’s custody and put him in the observation home without reviewing the earlier order, it was contended.
The petition claimed that even the judge seemed to be swayed by public sentiments against the minor.
“The CCL who is sought to be involved in the case of an accident; his family are portrayed to be a monstrous family. In the present case, unfortunately even the judge is seemed to be swayed away by the public sentiment and what optics his observations would create if observations are made even legally but favoring the accused,” the plea stated.
The petitioner sought the Court’s intervention to protect the spirit of justice to ensure that mainstream media's reporting does not lead to the bypassing of the legal process.