On 4 June, a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) allowed Delhi Police’s plea to try the minor, accused in the Mercedes hit-and-run case, as an adult in a trial court.
The Board said that the accused was in no manner lacking in mental and physical capacity to commit the alleged offence, reported ANI. It further added that on the date of the inciden,t he had the ability to understand the consequences of the offence.
According to the police, the boy had run over marketing executive Siddharth Sharma with his father’s Mercedes when Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School in north Delhi on 4 April.
The final report was filed for alleged offences under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (driving on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 337 (causing hurt by an act which endangers human life) against him.
Siddhartha Sharma’s sister, Shilpa Mittal, commented on the JJB’s order and said:
He (accused) was mentally sound, and aware of the consequences of driving fast. Children’s court will start it from scratch. We know we won’t get justice easily; fighting to set an example, that no one is above law. I wish I do not face trouble in court nowShilpa Mittal
The Board commented that the circumstances collectively indicate that the accused was indifferent towards the life and safety of others on the road, and that his conduct before and after the incident clearly reflect that he understood the offence alleged against him.
(With agency inputs.)
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