Mumbai: The brief reprieve for the 17-year-old accused in the fatal Vidyavihar crash ended on Friday, when the Bombay High Court refused to extend the interim protection that had allowed him to remain out of custody to take his Class 12 examinations. The teenager faces a return to a children’s home pursuant to a Sessions Court order cancelling his bail.
The Sessions Court also directed the Suburban JJB in Dongri to secure his presence and pass appropriate orders for sending him to a child reformative centre. The teenager was dealt with separately by the Juvenile Justice Board. On August 5, Justice Shivkumar Dige had stayed the Sessions Court’s order cancelling the teenager’s bail to let the boy sit for his Class 12 exams held between August 6 and 8. That order, passed on July 31, had overturned the Juvenile Justice Board’s March 6 decision granting the teenager bail. Police had initially registered a case against the juvenile’s father, Valji Raja Bhushan, and arrested him on February 10.
Patel, in her written submissions before the High Court through advocates Atharva Dandekar, Ruben Mascarenhas and Tejas Gupta told the boy went missing right after his bail was cancelled. Police, according to the submissions, went looking for the teenager at his Chembur residence, his father’s shop and a designated place of safety in Navi Mumbai, but could not find him. A police compliance report cited before the HC recorded that “the Applicant’s father and the Applicant were not traceable”.
With the stay not being extended on Friday, he will have to return to a children’s home in line with the Sessions Court order.
The family later approached the DCP, Zone VI, Mumbai Police, over the alleged offer. The submissions also alleged that the juvenile’s father and another relative offered ₹ 40 lakh to the victim’s family to withdraw the FIR and complaint.
The allegation is part of the victim’s side’s submissions before the high court and was not a finding in Friday’s order.
