Mercedes hit-and-run: Juvenile Justice Board rejects minor’s bail plea

A schoolboy accused of mowing down a 34-year-old marketing professional while driving a Mercedes Benz lost an appeal to be granted bail on Tuesday.

A juvenile board on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of a minor accused of driving a Mercedes car that crushed a 33-year-old business consultant earlier this month in Delhi.

The boy was first apprehended last Tuesday but bailed within hours because the police had then booked him for causing death due to negligence. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)

The Juvenile Justice Board rejected the bail application of the boy, observing that he was a repeat offender. He had been earlier challaned in another case of rash driving.

His father was granted bail by a court on April 10, two days after he was arrested.

Police had apprehended the minor offender on April 5, a day after he killed Sidhharth Sharma by hitting him with his Mercedes car the previous night when the victim was crossing a road to buy eatables.

The minor was then freed on bail as he was only booked under section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

After an uproar and allegations that police officers were going soft on the accused, the police took a U-turn.

The boy’s father was also arrested under section 304 (abetting the crime of culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC for letting his minor son to drive even after knowing that he had caused an accident earlier.

Read: Teen ‘driver’ is a repeat offender

Police had earlier told the court that CCTV footage showed that the minor offender was driving his car at great speed in a residential area.

In a recent three-part series, HT had highlighted the menace of underage driving and the dangers it poses to the safety of commuters in the city.

(with agency inputs)