Two days after a minor was conditionally left off in connection with a hit-and-run accident in Ahmedabad’s Bopal area on Saturday — leading to a 34-year-old security guard’s death — the accused’s father, who was named as the co-accused in the FIR, was arrested on Thursday even as the Ahmedabad Rural Police sought permission from the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to try the 17-year-and-eight-month old as an adult.
The minor, whose father is an Ahmedabad-based builder, was driving a Mercedes and had escaped from the spot after the accident, said police, adding that the car has also been taken in custody.
On Thursday, the police presented the minor’s father before a local court which granted him bail, confirmed Bopal Police Inspector BT Gohil.
The minor, who was detained on September 17 and presented before the JJB, was conditionally let off till September 23 on the grounds that he had to appear for his BBA examination. Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Jat said, “We have sought permission from the JJB to try the minor as an adult in the case looking at his age, as he is four months shy of turning 18, and the intensity of the crime where a person has lost his life.” The JJB is now expected to conduct an assessment of the minor on September 24.
Father gets bail
Meanwhile, the accused’s father was arrested from Ahmedabad outskirts on Thursday morning. Inspector Gohil said, “The father was arrested while on his way to a mill on the outskirts of Ahmedabad with his nephew”. The builder was arrested after three teams of police personnel including those from Bopal police station, Local Crime Branch (LCB) and Special Operations Group (SOG) had been deployed to search for him as he was not found at his house on Wednesday.
However, even as the police presented him in a local court on Thursday, seeking 3-days remand, the court rejected this request, asking the police to only consider him an accused only under Section 199 (a) of the Motor Vehicle Act which deals with “if a juvenile commits a motor vehicle offence, the parent or guardian of such juvenile or the owner of the motor vehicle is held liable and punished accordingly.”
“Since the punishment under this section is three years and it is a bailable offence, the father got bail,” said Inspector Gohil.
The case
The accident took place on September 14 when the victim identified as Govind Singh was on night duty outside Shashwat Apartments in Bopal with his brother Jaswant Singh (44) — also the complainant, said officers from the Ahmedabad Rural police station while quoting the FIR.
According to the FIR, “the minor was driving the luxury vehicle at high speed and lost control of the vehicle” subsequently hitting the security guard. Both guards were on duty at 11:30 pm when the victim went to a shop opposite the society. Around 11:45 pm, the complainant “heard a loud bang of an accident” and went to investigate, said police.
“He found his brother Govind Singh bleeding profusely from head and leg,” said the police. Meanwhile, the locals informed him that a car had “come at full speed, hit the guard and driven off”, said the police. Later, the victim was rushed to GMERS Sola Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
An FIR into the matter was filed at 6 am on September 15 under Sections 281 (rash or negligent driving putting lives of public in danger) , 125(b) (causing grievous hurt) and 106 (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Sections 177 (fine for contravention of the MV Act), 184 (driving a vehicle in speed or dangerous manner) and 134(b) (not providing information to a police officer) of the Motor Vehicle Act. On September 18, Section 199(a) of the MV Act was added to the FIR, naming his father as co-accused.
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