Kochi Mercedes-Benz crash: Juvenile Justice Board grants bail to 17-year-old accused amid protests
The Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to a teenager accused of a fatal Mercedes crash in Kochi, sparking protests from the victim's family, who demanded his rearrest and legal action against his father.
The Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to a teenager accused of a fatal Mercedes crash in Kochi, sparking protests from the victim's family, who demanded his rearrest and legal action against his father.
The Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to a teenager accused of a fatal Mercedes crash in Kochi, sparking protests from the victim's family, who demanded his rearrest and legal action against his father.
Kochi: The Juvenile Justice Board has granted bail to the 17-year-old accused in the Mercedes-Benz crash in Cheranalloor that killed a 55-year-old scooterist, Jayabalakrishnan, on Sunday. The victim’s family has said it cannot accept the decision and demanded that the teenager be taken back into custody.
The police had initially released the teenager on station bail under Section 8 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. He was taken into custody again following protests by the victim’s relatives and local residents outside the Cheranalloor police station. He was subsequently produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, which granted him bail.
The victim’s family continued its protest, demanding that the accused be taken into custody again. They also called for action against his father if the accused was being treated as a minor under the law.
The police have added a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the teenager. He was initially booked under Sections 281 and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rash driving on a public way and causing death by negligence.
Kochi City Police Commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar told Onmanorama that the police were examining the technical and legal aspects of arraigning the teenager’s father in the case. The car involved in the accident was registered in his father’s name. The Commissioner said a decision was likely to be taken after examining the procedural aspects.
The accident occurred around 2.20 am near the Ford showroom at Maraparambu on Container Road in Cheranalloor. Jayabalakrishnan, a native of Manjali, was returning home after closing his wayside eatery near Chittoor temple when the Mercedes-Benz hit his scooter. According to the police, the teenager, the son of an additional sessions judge in Irinjalakuda, had taken the car without his parents’ knowledge.
The police said further investigation, including witness examination and scrutiny of available CCTV footage, was underway to establish the circumstances of the accident.
The incident comes less than two weeks after a fatal crash involving a Mini Cooper on the Airport-Athani road near Nedumbassery on October 11. The car, driven by 19-year-old Suhail Sajeev, collided with a scooter carrying Eyas, Gopika and Devika around 1.41 am, killing all three.