Cyber City accident: Juvenile driver booked under non-bailable IPC section

More than 40 days after a 48-year-old chief financial officer (CFO) of a private company was killed when a car, allegedly driven by a juvenile, hit his Harley Davidson

More than 40 days after a 48-year-old chief financial officer (CFO) of a private company was killed when a car, allegedly driven by a juvenile, hit his Harley Davidson motorcycle in DLF Cyber City, the police have booked the accused juvenile driver under Section 304 part -2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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Earlier this week, the section, which is non-bailable, was added to the FIR registered at DLF Phase-2 police station after seeking legal opinion in the case, the police said on Tuesday. The juvenile driver is yet to be apprehended, said the police.

The family of the victim, Alok Gupta, had been demanding that the police invoke stringent sections against the accused persons. They had also demanded that the police make the parents of the juvenile driver, and the juvenile co-passenger of the car, a party in the case.

On September 26, at least 400 people including family members, friends, cyclists, carrying placards and banners, had taken out a solidarity march from DT Mega Mall to the crime spot near DLF Phase 2 Rapid Metro station, demanding justice and action against the alleged perpetrators. On Saturday, another silent march was taken out in Sector 50 while a day earlier, similar such protests by family, friends, acquaintances of the victim, took place in Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Nagpur, Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur.

On August 23 around 6am, Gupta was on his way to Noida, when a Ford Eco Sport, in which two juveniles were travelling, had rammed into the divider and hit him across the carriageway. Gupta had succumbed to injuries and at the time, police had registered an FIR against the juvenile driver and owner of car, who is a friend of the driver’s father, under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 A (death by negligence) of IPC.

Subsequently, the police had added sections 184 (driving dangerously) and 185 (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs) of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act against the juvenile driver and section 199 A of the MV Act against the car owner. Both had been arrested and released on bail.

Maqsood Ahmed, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), east, said, “The Section 304- part 2 under IPC against the juvenile driver was added to the FIR after seeking fresh legal opinion in the case. Efforts are being made to apprehend the juvenile driver. Regarding action against the driver’s parents, we have sought legal opinion and accordingly action shall be taken. As per provisions of Motor Vehicle Act, the owner of the vehicle is liable in such incidents.”

A police official privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said, “A police team had gone to apprehend the juvenile driver at two locations over the past two days, but the juvenile could not be found.”

Anurag Gupta, brother of the victim, said, “The investigating officer in the case informed us over the phone that Section 304 part-2 of IPC has been added to the FIR.”