In the wee hours of May 19, 2024, exactly a year ago, a 17-year-old mowed down two IT professionals - Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta - with his speeding Porsche in a drunken state in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area.
The case caused nationwide uproar not just because of the death of the two individuals or that a minor was drunk driving, but also because the Juvenile Justice Board granted the teenager bail on the condition that he was to write a 300-word essay on road safety.
Following a public outcry, the police revisited the case and sent the teenager to an observation home.
The teenager’s mother, Shivani Agarwal, was also arrested after she was accused of attempting to shield her son by swapping her blood sample with his to conceal alcohol consumption at the time of the accident.
Minor out on bail
However, currently both the teenager and his mother, are out.
The minor was released from the observation home in June last year. The Bombay High Court had observed that the remand orders were passed in an “absolutely illegal and mechanical manner” and without jurisdiction. The HC said the minor shall be under the supervision of his paternal aunt, who shall ensure compliance with the directions issued by the Juvenile Justice Board to rehabilitate him.
Whereas his mother was granted bail by the Supreme Court last month after spending 10 months in jail. According to her counsels, the bail conditions set by the court include the accused furnishing a bond of ₹1 lakh with one or two sureties; depositing passport with police; not leaving India without prior permission of court; not disclosing her identity for next three months; keeping her mobile tower location on; attending Yerawada police station every Wednesday; and not hamper or tamper investigation.
So, who all are in jail currently in connection with this case?
A total of nine accused are still behind bars, including the minor's father, Vishal Agarwal; two doctors from Sassoon General Hospital, Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor; Sassoon Hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble; two middlemen, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, accused of facilitating financial transactions in the blood swapping case; and three others – Aditya Sood, Ashish Mittal and Arun Singh. Sood and Singh are the fathers of the other two minors who were with the juvenile driver in the car when the accident took place and whose blood samples were also swapped. Mittal is Singh’s friend, whose blood sample was swapped with that of Singh’s minor son.
Has anything changed after the incident?
Absolutely no! Our reporter recently got in touch with a few Kalyani Nagar residents, and they said that after the incident, the cops launched a crackdown on pubs, clubs and bars. However, things have gone back to normal. The residents slammed the cops for their inaction, stating that liquor is being sold openly and that there isn’t a check on drink-and-drive.
Harsh Bharwani, a resident, said: “Many new restaurants have been opened in Kalyani Nagar. And there is no coordination between PMC and the excise department, as the excise department gives licenses to bar and restaurant owners without coordinating with PMC’s fire department, and no permission or issue of NOC is being given by PMC. These bar and restaurant owners gradually encroach on the nearby areas, and if the place or bar can accommodate 50 persons, due to the encroached area, more and more people come, and it becomes very crowded, which leads to traffic. I urge PMC and the excise department to give licenses to bar and restaurant owners only after checking and as per the laws," he said.
Gayatri Prabhu, another resident, said, “There is blaring noise pollution, chaos, and traffic jams, and there is no fear of the law; people drive recklessly. After the accident, nobody learnt their lessons. The authorities are in action only for a few days and months, and then things come to a standstill. I’m scared to even cross the roads at zebra crossings when the signal is red because you never know - some car could come crashing into you. People don’t follow traffic rules. That’s the sad reality," she concluded.
It's been a year. Most people have forgotten about the accident as every day some new thing happens in our country, and we move on from one headline to another. But what about the lives lost? How many more lives must be lost before authorities take lasting and meaningful action? Because if nothing changes, it’s not a question of if another tragedy will happen — it’s when.
