Pune Porsche incident: Negligence of parents is responsible for the crime of minors.

New Delhi: The whole country is angry due to a recent terrible road accident in Pune. This is being discussed everywhere. In this accident, a 17-year-old minor boy, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, hit two software engineers riding a bike, resulting in their death. This incident also raises the question that what should be the accountability of minors and adults in such serious cases? This needs to be discussed seriously. When it comes to juvenile delinquency, a mistake is often made in not understanding the thinking behind their actions. Science says that the decision making brain of minors is not as developed as that of adults. They are quick to anger and do not understand the consequences of their actions. Keeping this reason in mind, minors should be given less punishment than adults because their mental thinking is not fully developed. Although minors should definitely be punished for their actions, the ones who are most responsible for their mistakes are the elders who have an influence on them and who can show them the right path. It is worth noting that according to the law, children below 18 years of age cannot drive a vehicle more than 50 cc and they are allowed to drive only vehicles like Scooty or Luna.

Mistake or heinous crime?

In this case, the minor has been charged under section 304 of the IPC. This is the section under which someone dies due to negligence, but there is no intention to murder. Under this section, the maximum punishment can be 10 years. According to the Juvenile Justice Act, if a crime carries a punishment of 7 years or more then it is considered a ‘heinous’ crime. According to this law, a minor may be tried like an adult and may receive a harsher punishment. But, before anything like this is done, it is important to understand the principles of the Juvenile Justice Act. This law focuses more on the reformation of minors than on punishment. The law holds that minors, because of their age and mental development, cannot be held guilty to the same extent as an adult. In this case, it seems that the minor acted not with any premeditated conspiracy or evil intention, but with extreme negligence. Therefore, it would be better to call it a huge mistake rather than a heinous crime.

Question on responsibility of parents

The father’s role in this entire matter clearly shows that he/she completely ignored the safety of both his/her son and the general public. Allowing a minor to drive so fast is the biggest example of negligence. Parents or guardians are entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of their children and preventing them from doing wrong things. Under Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act, if a minor is caught driving a vehicle and breaks the law, the responsibility lies with the owner or guardian of the vehicle unless he/she proves his/her innocence. Similarly, at the place where liquor was given to the minor, a lot of negligence was also done there. he/she broke the law by giving alcohol to a minor and also ignored the possibility of a terrible accident.

Government in action

After this incident the system has woken up and taken some strict action. According to the rules of the Motor Vehicles Act, the minor will not be given a driving license till the age of 25 years and that luxury car will also not be able to be registered in any RTO office for 12 months. The police have also charged the father and the employees of the place under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Section 75 deals with negligent care of children and Section 77 deals with the offense of giving liquor to children. These legal rules state that it is the responsibility of adults to protect minors from making mistakes, especially when they are unable to take the right decisions due to their young age.

The ‘system’ was shaken by the anger of the people

In this case, a positive result has come out of public anger. Police and local administration took immediate action. The place where liquor was given to the minor has been sealed and the excise department has started a special investigation to ensure that the age restriction is followed. Also, the license of any shop that breaks the rules will be cancelled. Although this kind of cooperation between departments is rarely seen, it is very important. It is the combined efforts of the state and district administration that can prevent such incidents in future. However, harsher punishment or prosecuting minors like adults may calm our anger, but it does not help in making the society safer.

Don’t take wrong decisions in anger

This anger is justified, people feel that because they are rich and influential they may not get punished. But there should be no mistake in anger. Neither that boy’s life should be ruined nor that innocent driver should be implicated, who is probably being pressurized by the family to take the blame for the accident. We all know how rich people trap the poor. This anger should be used for good. While respecting the manner in which the death occurred, a way should be found so that such accidents do not happen in future. The minor should be punished keeping his/her age in mind and strict action should also be taken against negligent elders and shops. Such a balanced decision will send a message that giving alcohol to minors and negligence on the part of parents are both wrong and can lead to punishment.

Neha Singhal is an independent legal researcher.