The Supreme Court has granted bail to a doctor implicated in the Pune Porsche crash case, where a minor is accused of tampering with evidence after a fatal accident, raising questions about justice and accountability.
Key Points
- The Supreme Court granted bail to Dr. Ajay Taware, accused of tampering with blood samples in the Pune Porsche crash case.
- The case involves a 17-year-old accused of fatally hitting two IT professionals while driving under the influence.
- The court cited parity, referencing previous bail granted to other accused individuals in the same case.
- Initial lenient bail conditions for the juvenile sparked public outrage, leading to a review and modification of the order.
- Several individuals, including the juvenile's parents and hospital staff, have been jailed in connection with the blood sample-swapping case.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to a doctor arrested for allegedly tampering with the blood samples of a 17-year-old boy, accused of crashing a Porsche car into a motorcycle in Pune and killing two persons.
The incident dates back to May 19, 2024, when the Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old under the influence of alcohol fatally knocked down two IT professionals in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan granted the relief to Sassoon General Hospital's former medical superintendent, Dr Ajay Taware, on the ground of parity.
The court, on February 2, granted bail to three accused in the case, while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles as they donot have control over their children.
Noting that the accused -- Amar Santish Gaikwad (an alleged middleman), Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal (the parents of two other juveniles in the car) -- were in custody for 18 months, the bench had granted bail to them.
On January 23, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on a plea filed by Gaikwad, seeking bail in the case.
Earlier on January 7, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on pleas filed by two other accused, seeking bail.
Sood (52) and Mittal (37) were arrested on August 19 last year, as their blood samples were used for tests in connection with the two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.
The Bombay High Court, on December 16 last year, rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the case.
Public Outrage and Subsequent Actions
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had granted bail to the minor accused on lenient terms, sparking nationwide outrage. The bail conditions included writing a 300-word essay on road safety.
As bail to the accused juvenile triggered outrage, the Pune Police approached the JJB to review its decision. The board then modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. The high court had subsequently ordered the release of the juvenile.
While the juvenile involved in the case was released from an observation home, 10 accused, including his parents Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital's staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Sood, Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh, were sent to jail in the blood sample-swapping case.
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