New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on February 2 granted bail to three accused in the high-profile Pune juvenile car crash case, observing that parents must share responsibility in incidents involving minors when they fail to exercise proper control over them.
A bench of the top court granted bail to Amar Santish Gaikwad, an alleged middleman, along with Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal — parents of two other juveniles who were in the car at the time of the accident. The court noted that the trio had been in custody for nearly 18 months.
Earlier, on January 23 and January 7, the apex court had sought responses from the Maharashtra government on separate bail pleas filed by the accused.
Sood (52) and Mittal (37) were arrested on August 19 last year after investigators found that their blood samples were allegedly used in tests linked to two minors who were travelling with the 17-year-old main accused during the fatal accident.
The Bombay High Court had, on December 16 last year, rejected bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal.
The case had triggered nationwide outrage after the Juvenile Justice Board initially granted bail to the minor accused on relatively lenient conditions, including writing a 300-word essay on road safety. Following public backlash, Pune police sought a review of the order, after which the Board modified its decision and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June, the high court ordered the juvenile’s release.
In the related blood sample swapping case, 10 accused — including the juvenile’s parents Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Sood, Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh — were sent to jail.
Further proceedings in the matter are ongoing.
