Pune police move sessions court against Juvenile Justice Board's rejection of plea to try teenage driver in Porsche crash case as adult

Time of India

3 days ago

Pune: The city police have filed an appeal before the sessions court against the Juvenile Justice Board's (JJB) order of July 15 this year, which rejected their plea to try the 17-year-old driver in the Porsche Taycan car crash case as an adult.
The crash on May 19, 2024, had claimed the lives of two young IT professionals in the Kalyaninagar area.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Nikhil Pingale told TOI on Monday, "The Pune district collector, on behalf of state govt, gave us permission on July 31, 2025, to file the appeal. It was filed before the sessions court on Aug 4."
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The JJB, while rejecting the police's plea, had relied on a Supreme Court ruling of Jan 9, 2020.
It held that the offence attributed to the minor in the case could not be considered as 'heinous' under the ambit of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Act to merit his trial as an adult.
The teenager's lawyer had argued, among other things, that the offences attributed to the minor could not be termed as 'heinous' in nature considering the said SC ruling.
The apex court had held that offences prescribing a maximum sentence of more than seven years but not providing any minimum sentence or providing a minimum sentence of less than seven years, cannot be considered a 'heinous offence' within the meaning of section 2 (33) of the JJ Act.
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The JJB upheld this point.
On Monday, lawyer Sarthi Pansare, who is assisting special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray, told TOI that the Pune police's appeal, filed under Section 101 of the JJ Act, states that the accident involving the teenager should be treated as an "exceptional case" and his psychological assessment was imperative to know if he acted as a minor or a major at the time of the accident.
Pansare said, "Section 467 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) applied in this case for tampering with valuable security (blood samples) provides for a life imprisonment as the maximum punishment but does not provide for a minimum sentence.
Our case is that if a minor tried under this section is convicted, s/he can be sentenced to a minimum period of seven years under section 233 (2) of the JJ Act. Our case is that at the time of the incident, the teenage driver was 17 years and eight months old.
So, his psychological evaluation was needed. For that purpose, the JJB should have treated the minor as an adult."
Pansare said the appeal will be listed for hearing before a special court in due course of time.
Two young software engineers were killed when the 17-year-old son of a prominent Pune-based builder rammed their bike from behind at Kalyaninagar junction around 2.30am on May 19, 2024. This occurred while the teen was driving the high-end car back to his bungalow in Wadgaon Sheri after late-night partying with friends at a couple of pubs in Mundhwa.
The teenager was released from an observation home after Bombay high court on June 25, 2024, held that his continuation there was illegal. In between, the Pune police had filed an appeal seeking his trial as an adult.
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