HYDERABAD: At a time when Pune police have booked the father and grandfather of the drunk teenager who rammed his Porsche Taycan into a two-wheeler killing two techies on the spot last month, a similar case in Hyderabad has resulted in acquittal.
While the minor accused is still under trial before the Juvenile Justice Board, his father has been relieved of all charges by a local court that found lapses in the investigation.
The incident took place in Hyderabad’s Bowenpally area in August 2019. A 16-year-old boy driving a Maruti S-Cross drove straight into an autorickshaw killing a 14-month-old boy and his grandmother. He hit two other bikes and injured three more people. The teenager and his father were charged in the case. Two days after the incident, the teen was apprehended and sent to juvenile home while his father was arrested and sent in judicial remand.
They were subsequently granted bail by the Juvenile Board and court respectively.
The father was acquitted in the case recently after the court ruled that the “specific active role of this accused could not be proved and hence, he is entitled to be acquitted on benefit of doubt”.
While the police had charged teen’s father on grounds of owning the S-Cross vehicle, it was later found that the car was registered in the name of a private firm. The police failed to connect the accused to the firm.
“Even if it is presumed that the accused is the registered owner, it is for the prosecution to prove whether this accused has knowledge of his son taking away the vehicle on the date of incident,” observed the court.
During the investigation, a confession statement of the accused was recorded in which he allegedly said that his son took the car out in his absence without his knowledge and consent, causing the accident. But the court said that “the extra-judicial confession of the accused purportedly recorded is not proved beyond the doubt”.
The main charge against the accused was abetting the crime, but there was no evidence to prove his intentional attack or active complicity in the offence, the court observed.
Also, the court observed that while in any road accident, it is mandated that the vehicles involved in it be immediately inspected by RTA to assess the vehicle’s fitness and for any mechanical defects, in this case, the police sent a requisition to the RTA after over a month (September 2019) to inspect the S-Cross. Further, they did not send any requisition to inspect the autorickshaw and two bikes damaged in the accident.
Moreover, it also found that the police did not send a requisition to the transport department for inspection of the crime scene to note down the manner of the accident, tyre marks, and skid marks at the place of accident.
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