In response to mounting concerns over handling the Pune car crash case, the Maharashtra government has established a committee to investigate the conduct of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) members involved in the matter, an official announced on Wednesday.
The committee, consisting of five members, was convened by the state’s Woman and Child Development Department last week. It is chaired by a deputy commissioner-level officer from the department and is tasked with delivering its findings by next week, as confirmed by the official.
The incident in question occurred in the early hours of May 19 in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune, where two IT professionals in their twenties tragically lost their lives after being struck by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol.
Amidst public outcry, the JJB controversially granted bail to the teenager mere hours after the fatal crash, additionally imposing a requirement for him to pen a 300-word essay on road accidents, a decision met with widespread criticism.
Prashant Narnavare, the WCD commissioner, underscored the committee’s mandate to scrutinize the overall conduct of the JJB members appointed by the state government, particularly assessing whether procedural norms were adhered to in issuing orders pertaining to the car accident case.
Asserting authority under the Juvenile Justice Act, Narnavare emphasized the committee’s immediate formation following the issuance of the bail order.
Moreover, another three-member committee has been tasked with investigating allegations of tampering with the blood samples of the juvenile driver. Recent revelations suggest that the original blood samples were purportedly discarded and substituted with those from another individual, yielding results devoid of alcohol traces, as claimed by the police on Monday.