Teenager had no licence, parents chargesheeted

New Delhi: The Delhi police has chargesheeted the parents of the teenager who allegedly ran over a 32-year-old marketing executive while driving his father’s Mercedes in North Delhi’s Civil Lines in April last year.

The police chargesheeted his parents and the family driver because they did not stop him from driving the vehicle. The chargesheet filed by the Delhi police read that though the teenager did not have a valid driving licence, his parents handed over the keys of luxury cars to him. They (teenager’s parents) let him drive their Mercedes, Porsche and other high-end cars.

This is perhaps the first case in the national capital in which the police has chargesheeted the parents of a teenager for allowing their kid to drive a vehicle which resulted in a fatal accident. “The teenager did not have a valid driving licence, yet he had been driving vehicles. He was even caught for violating traffic rules such as overspeeding and driving without seat belt for which he was prosecuted. But he did not mend his ways and continued to violate traffic rules. On the fateful day of the incident, the teenager was driving a Mercedes and ran over the management student, Siddharth Sharma, who suffered severe injuries and later succumbed to it. The car was later found to be registered in the name of his parents. Hence, the parents are accountable for his act. They too should face trial,” the chargesheet said. The police has also mentioned in the chargesheet that the boy’s father had a word with him after the incident and they paid around Rs 50,000 to the hospital where Sharma was admitted. The police said that the father of the teenager was trying to mislead the police to save his son. The police has charged the parents for the offence punishable under Sections 304, 201, 203, and 109 of the IPC read with Section 5/180 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The police had on May 26 chargesheeted the boy in JJB for culpable homicide not amounting to murder which entails a maximum of 10 years jail.

Initially, a case under Section 304A of IPC was lodged but later he was booked for the alleged offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sent to a reform home. The police had said in its chargesheet that the boy had fatally run over the victim, Siddharth Sharma, with his father’s Mercedes when Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School in North Delhi on April 4. The final report was filed for alleged offences under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (driving on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life), and 337 (causing hurt by an act which endangers human life).

The board had on April 26 granted bail to the youth, who sought relief to appear for his entrance examinations.