Don’t let four days come in the way of justice, say police

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have argued that the accused driver in the Mercedes hit-and-run case should not be given the benefit of a juvenile since he was just four days shy of turning an adult.

The teen was allegedly driving at 80-km an hour when the car hit marketing consultant Siddharth Sharma in the Civil Lines area.

The police, in its charge-sheet submitted before the juvenile justice board, contended that four days would not have made any significant difference to physical or mental maturity of the accused. Therefore, he should not be allowed to take the plea that he should be tried as a juvenile, the police said.

If treated as a juvenile, the accused driver would only be sent to a correction home and not a jail.

“Because of the calculation of biological age of 18 years, the mental capacity/ability and physical capacity/ability cannot be expected to get a drastic change towards maturity in those four days,” the police said in the charge-sheet.

Police said the teenager must be tried as an adult and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They said the accused had been involved in similar incidents of rash driving in the past and managed to dodge legal action by “either compromising or giving false representation about his identity”.

The officer said it proved the minor was mentally capable of understanding the consequences of his act.

The police said the teenager driver did not even apply the brakes when his car hit Siddharth Sharma the victim. Police said they did not find a single skid mark at the crime spot.

A separate charge-sheet is being filed against the teenager’s father and the family driver, who had earlier misled the police by claiming that he was driving the car when Sharma was hit. The driver backed out after learning that Sharma had died.

Father of the accused is being chargesheeted for abetment to culpable homicide. The police have submitted the details of the past cases, in which the teenager was fined for speeding.