“Help Accident Victims”: Lessons In Essay From Porsche Teen Who Killed 2

Pune:

The fact that the teenager who rammed his father’s Porsche into two techies in Pune in May, killing them on the spot, was given bail and asked to write a 300-word essay on road safety had sparked national outrage. NDTV has now accessed the essay, in which the 17-year-old explains why he left the spot after the accident and stresses on the need to follow traffic rules. 

Meeting the bail conditions set by the Juvenile Justice Board on May 19, the day of the accident, the teenager handed in the essay on Wednesday. 

The boy, the son of a prominent Pune builder, had been drinking with his friends in two pubs to celebrate his Class 12 results before knocking down the scooter carrying the two 24-year-old techies – Ashwini Koshta and Anish Awadhiya – in the Porsche at a speed in excess of 150 kmph. He had then sped away.

In the essay, the 17-year-old, who was four months shy of the legal age for driving and more than seven years shy of Maharashtra’s legal age for drinking, said he left the spot because he was scared of what would happen to him and of getting into trouble with the police. This, he said, had also prevented him from going to a police station and reporting the accident. 

He wrote that, instead of fleeing after an accident, people should go to the nearest police station and report what had happened. Not doing so, he said, could land people in trouble. 

Exhorting people to help accident victims, the teenager also said everyone should follow traffic rules for their own safety and that of others. 

‘Confident And Composed’

Asked about the essay, officials said they found it ambiguous and couldn’t make out the teenager’s mental state. They also said that while he was in the remand home, his behaviour was like someone who was older than he is and remained confident and composed even after the arrest of his parents and grandfather. 

On the day of the accident, the teenager was taken to the Yerawada police station, where he was allegedly given VIP treatment and even given pizzas and burgers. Sunil Tingre, an MLA from the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, had also reached the police station, allegedly to ask police officials to go easy on him.

A murky saga began after that, with the boy’s family allegedly trying to pin the crime on a driver and bribing doctors to get the teenager’s blood samples exchanged before the blood alcohol test. The boy had got bail the same day, only to be sent to a remand home following national outrage. 

In late June, his detention was declared illegal by the Bombay High Court, which ordered his immediate release. 

After the High Court order, Ashwini Koshta’s mother Mamta had said, “I was shocked after seeing the news. I have full faith in the judiciary. They must have made the decision after careful consideration. However, I request the judges to understand the pain of a mother who has lost her daughter. Punishment should be given accordingly so that the public can trust the judicial system.”