Sunday proved to be a gruesome night for Pune’s Anish Awadiya and Ashwini Costa, their families and people’s belief in the Indian judicial system. The Porsche crash case is yet another instance amongst thousands where money is thrown to cover up for murders and the accused walk away without a scratch. But this time, social media played a key role in ensuring at least some justice is served.
The Incident
Vedant Agarwal, 17-year-old son of renowned builder Vishal Agarwal of Bramha Realty was drunk driving a luxury Porsche car on Sunday. He was out celebrating the CBSE Board Results with his friends and got majorly drunk. They spent around Rs. 68000 in 90 minutes on drinks at a pub. At around 3.15 am, his car crashed into Anish and Ashwini’s motorcycle in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar. The 24-year-old engineers were returning home with friends on motorcycles after partying at a club.
Vedant Agarwal was driving the Porsche Taycan. He rammed the speeding vehicle into their bike at the Kalyani Nagar junction. The impact of the crash flung Anish and Ashwini into the air and they landed on another car. Sadly, they died on the spot. After colliding with them, the Porsche crashed into the pavement and came to a stop. The bystanders caught Vedant and beat him up before handing him over to the police.
According to the FIR, the real estate developer gave his son the car despite knowing that the boy did not have a driving licence, thus endangering his life, and allowed him to party even while knowing that he drinks alcohol.
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The Implications
A case was registered against Vedant Agarwal at the Yerawada Police Station under sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (death by negligence), 337 (endangering human life) and 338 (causing grievous hurt), and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Pune had asked the minor driver to work with the traffic police for 15 days and write an “essay on accident”. He was granted bail just 14 hours after his Porsche car hit a motorbike killing two people…
To ascertain if the 17-year-old driver was under the influence of alcohol, he was sent for medical examination. The report of which was still awaited. The CCTV footage of one of the hotels clearly shows the juvenile was consuming alcohol. According to advocate Prashant Patil, representing Vedant, the bail order by JJB has asked his client to get treatment from a doctor who will help him quit drinking and seek psychiatric counselling, a report of which must be submitted.
This was beyond infuriating for everyone. Is the justice for taking two lives due to negligence an “essay on accident“? An eyewitness, Amen Sheikh, described the accident and said the Porsche was being driven at a speed between 200-240 km/hour. Apparently, Vedant Agarwal was served pizza at the police station at 3 am despite having been held on grounds of murder, which shows the negligence of handling him as a real accused just because of money.
Know The Victims
Ashwini Costa hailed from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Her mother, Mamta Costa, revealed that her daughter had planned to return home for her father’s birthday in June. “Just a day before the accident, Ashwini informed me that she will be returning home in Jabalpur and had booked her ticket for June 18 to surprise her father on her birthday. However, it ended this way,” she said.
Anish Awadiya was originally from Pali town in Madhya Pradesh. He graduated from DY Patil College of Engineering in Pune and had been working in Pune for about 1.5 years. His bereaved family includes his mother, father, and a 21-year-old younger brother who is studying at the city’s DY Patil College. Anish’s father has a small printing press and his mother is a homemaker. “Anish used to support his family financially,” said his maternal uncle.
This is just so heartbreaking. Netizens across the country were furious looking at the judiciary’s current state of affairs.
The Power Of Social Media
The accident and bail conditions sparked major outrage on social media. Following which, the police approached the JJB again to seek a review of its order and permission to treat the 17-years-and-8 months-old as an adult accused since the crime was heinous in nature. Ultimately the juvenile court cancelled Vedant’s bail yesterday. A war of words ensued between the BJP and Opposition leaders over the minor accused getting immediate bail in the case.
“The order passed by the JJ Board was shocking and surprising as it had taken a very lenient view of such a heinous crime. The Pune police had petitioned the board to allow them to treat the teenager as an adult as his age is 17 years and eight months. But the board kept the application aside by categorising it as ‘seen and filed’ and released him on bail which led to public outrage,” said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The Repercussions
Since a minor can not be arrested, the court has remanded him to an Observation Home till June 5. The police also arrested four people in connection with the crash case, including the teen’s father and managers of the Black Club pub – Nitesh Shevani and Jayesh Gavkar, where he was served alcohol.
Vedant’s father was reportedly on a run but was eventually arrested by the police. It also came to light that Surendra Kumar Agarwal, the grandfather of the accused, is reportedly facing trial in a shootout case for allegedly making payments to gangster Chhota Rajan.
With every detail that comes up about this case, the dismal reality of the justice system comes through. Money seems to have more value than actual lives. The way this 17-year-old’s crime is being treated with such negligence is extremely painful to watch for the parents of the deceased. Justice must be served for Anish and Ashwini. What is your take on this?
