A court in Maharashtra granted bail to an affluent 17-year-old accused of killing a couple when he crashed his Porsche into their bike in Pune, leading to outrage on social media.
The judge asked the teenager, who is alleged to have been drunk at the time of the incident, to write an essay on road safety and do voluntary traffic work, reported NDTV.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area when the student, whose identity was revealed as Vedant Agarwal by Punekar News, was out with friends in the luxury car, owned by his father Vishal Agarwal, a well-known real estate developer in the city.
He was allegedly drunk and travelling at more than 200kmh in a narrow lane when he crashed into IT engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24, who were on a motorcycle.
Ms Koshta was thrown into the air by the force of the crash, witnesses told police.
Mr Awadhiya was also flung into parked cars. Both died of their injuries.
Bystanders rushed to help the victims and restrained Vedant, who along with one of his friends, tried to flee the scene.
In videos of the aftermath taken by passers-by and circulating on social media, the angry crowd is seen thrashing Vedant before handing him over to the police, India Today reported. Another person who was in the car reportedly escaped.
The police registered a case of manslaughter against the teenager.
The Juvenile Justice Board, a special court where minors are tried, granted him bail within 14 hours on several conditions, including working alongside traffic police for 15 days and writing a 300-word essay on the “effects of road accidents and their solution”.
Police on Tuesday arrested his father for giving the car to his underage son, who did not have a driving licence. They also arrested the owners of a couple of bars where the teen was served alcohol.
According to Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar, Vedant had been celebrating his class 12 results with friends at a few pubs and was drunk by the end of the evening.
The legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25.
The incident has led to criticism of India’s legal system, with many social media users ridiculing the juvenile board’s ruling.
“The court grants bail to the accused within a few hours and asks him to write an essay on the accident,” Ms Radhika Chaudhary said on X. “The Indian judiciary system applies differently to the rich and poor.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut demanded that Police Commissioner Kumar be dismissed, and claimed the teenager was served pizza and a burger at the police station after his detention.
He also accused a legislator from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s National Congress Party faction of being present at the police station and helping the teen.
“Pune Police helped a rich boy who took the lives of two young people... You’re serving him pizza and a burger for what? Now, video has surfaced that the boy was consuming alcohol. Everyone was aware of the reality, and still helped him,” Mr Raut said.
Ms Koshta’s family told CNN-News18 that they were dismayed by the bail conditions and were ready to fight at every level to get justice.
“We are in shock,” said her uncle Sachin Bokde. “It is condemnable that he should get bail in 15 hours. He and his parents should be investigated.
“We want his bail cancelled and he should remain in police custody. Because of him, an innocent girl, who has seen nothing of life, died.”
Leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said: “How did the minor accused get access to alcohol? How did an unregistered car come on the road in Pune? Do bars and pubs open by breaking the rules? If so, why is there no action against them?
“Why did it take so long to arrest the accused’s father knowing that he is a minor? That is why we demand a judicial inquiry into the said incident and also an inquiry into the Pune Police in this case.”
On Wednesday, after three days of outrage over the initial decision, the Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the teen’s bail and sent him to a juvenile detention centre until June 5.
It said a decision on whether he could be tried as an adult, which would see him face a more serious sentence, would be taken after further investigation.
