Pune Porsche car crash: Bombay HC orders release of juvenile accused

New Delhi: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered juvenile accused to be released from observation home in Pune Porsche car crash case.

Pronouncing the verdict, a division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande ordered the release of the minor into the care and custody of his paternal aunt (petitioner).

The court has also quashed the impugned remand orders.

The court also directed that the minor's sessions with the psychologist should continue.

In the early hours of May 19, the juvenile was allegedly driving a Porsche car at very high speed in an intoxicated state when the vehicle crashed into a bike, killing two software engineers – Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta – in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar.

The 17-year-old was granted bail the same day by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which ordered that he be kept under the care and supervision of his parents and grandfather. He was also asked to write a 300-word essay on road safety.

Amid a nationwide uproar over the quick bail, the police appealed to the JJB to amend the bail order. On May 22, the board ordered the boy to be taken into custody and remanded him to an observation home.

Last week, the teenager’s paternal aunt filed a habeas corpus (produce person) petition claiming that he was illegally detained and sought his immediate release.

The bench, while hearing the arguments in the plea on Friday, noted that till date, the police have not filed any application before a higher court seeking cancellation of the bail order passed by the JJB.

Instead, an application was filed seeking amendment of the bail order, HC said, adding that based on this application, the bail order was amended, the boy was taken in custody and remanded to an observation home.

“What type of remand is this? What is the power to remand? What kind of procedure is this where a person has been granted bail and then a remand is passed taking him in custody,” the court said.

The bench added that the minor was taken away from the care and supervision of his family members and sent to an observation home.

“He is a person who has been granted bail, but now he has been confined to an observation home. Is this not confinement? We would like to know your source of power,” HC said.

The bench said it also expected the Juvenile Justice Board to be responsible.

The court questioned why the police did not move an application for cancellation of the bail.