Pune, - The Juvenile Justice Board said on Tuesday that a 17-year-old boy accused of driving a Poush car while drunk and hitting two people in Pune last year will be tried as a juvenile. The incident took place on May 19 last year in Kalyani Nagar area and made national headlines.
The accident killed motorcycle-riding IT professionals Anish Awadhia and his friend Ashwini Costa. The Pune police had last year sought to try the accused as an adult, saying that in doing this ‘heinous’ act, he not only took the lives of two people but also tried to tamper with evidence.
According to the defence lawyer, the Juvenile Justice Board on Tuesday rejected the police’s plea to treat the accused boy as an adult. The teenage accused was granted bail hours after the accident on May 19 last year.
The minor's release on soft bail conditions, including being asked to write a 300-word essay on road safety, sparked a nationwide uproar, after which he was sent to a detention centre in Pune city three days later.
Following this, on June 25, 2024, the Bombay High Court ordered the accused to be released immediately. The High Court said that the Juvenile Justice Board's order to send him to a detention centre was illegal and the Juvenile Act should be fully applied in this case.