A court in Ernakulam hearing appeals against bail granted to a 17-year-old in the Cheranalloor car crash case, in which a man was killed, has asked the police to say whether the culpable homicide provision used in this case has been applied in any similar case in Kerala, The Hindu reported.
Judge Kavitha Gangadharan of the Additional District and Sessions Court, which is designated to try cases of atrocities against women and children, directed the investigating officer to submit, within an hour, data on FIRs registered in the district or elsewhere in the state over accidents involving juvenile drivers in which Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had been invoked. Section 105 covers culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The judge wanted the data to attach to her order on the appeals. The appeals were filed by the prosecution and the family of the man who died, against bail granted to the teenager by the Juvenile Justice Board. She warned the investigating officer, an Assistant Commissioner of the Crime Branch, that he would be held answerable if no other FIR in a similar case had invoked Section 105 and it had been used only in this one.
Other questions from the court
The court also criticised the investigating agency for filing its appeal before the Principal Sessions Court rather than the court designated for cases involving juveniles. The judge asked the prosecution whether it doubted that the Juvenile Justice Model Rules are the only state framework for children in conflict with the law.
Earlier in the week, the court had held part of the proceedings in camera, The Hindu reported. The order on the appeals is awaited.
Why it matters
The court's question goes to whether a serious charge is being applied consistently to minors in fatal crashes, which the judge said she wanted on record before ruling. The Hindu's report is the only account of this hearing found so far.