Why Kerala police handling of Mercedes accident death invited intense scrutiny

The family of the deceased has accused the police of procedural lapses to favour the minor son of a judge who was allegedly behind the wheelThe Kerala police’s handling of a case of driving death allegedly caused by a minor son of a judge has come under intense public scrutiny even as the state’s high court has sought an explanation from the judge himself.Under the spotlight in the case is the 17-year-old son of additional district judge Reno Francis Xavier. He was allegedly behind the wheel when his father’s Mercedes car knocked to death an eatery owner riding a scooter in Cheranelloor, a suburb of Kochi, in the early hours of October 25. The eatery owner, 56-year-old Jayabalakrishnan, died on the spot.The police registered a case of causing death by negligence and rash driving and the boy subsequently secured bail. Amidst objections raised by the family of the deceased, the teenager, on October 26, secured bail again from the juvenile justice court in Ernakulam—apparently within hours of the police taking him back into custody as protests outside the Cheranelloor police station spiralled.The police are being accused of procedural lapses. In the FIR, for instance, the accused was initially mentioned as “unknown person” even when the alleged perpetrator was in police custody. A recording of the car owner’s name (Francis Xavier) was also skipped. Francis Xavier is the motor accident claims tribunal judge at Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district.Jayalakshmi, a relative of the deceased, has alleged that Francis Xavier was at the police station post-the accident and had threatened the family when it questioned his accountability in the case. “I asked him whether he was aware of the law banning minors from driving vehicles. He told me not to teach him the law and remarked: ‘don’t challenge me’,” Jayalakshmi claimed to the media.“The police removed the car from the accident scene and instructed us to delete the photographs of the teen driver from our mobile phones. This is an attempt to tamper with the primary evidence,” she alleged.The family’s protests at the police station have drawn support from political leaders by way of their presence. Meanwhile, home minister Ramesh Chennithala directed additional DGP (law and order) P. Vijayan to submit a report on the accident and the alleged police inaction.Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan was stinging in his criticism of the police. “What kind of law and order are we practising? If the police are taking a partisan view on serious crimes, how will the poor get justice? I demand that the government take firm action against people who tried to facilitate the accused,” Vijayan said in the legislative assembly on October 26.Chennithala acknowledged that the police had committed lapses in the initial proceedings of the case. “I was surprised to learn that the alleged teen driver had secured bail. I assure the House that justice will be delivered and we will take firm action against officials who made lapses in the investigation,” he told the assembly.The police have revised the FIR and added an offence under Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which holds the guardian of a minor or owner of a vehicle driven by a minor liable for a traffic offence. Accordingly, the police have registered a case against Francis Xavier.“It seems the police made deliberate procedural mistakes to save the teen driver. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have recorded the driver’s name in the FIR as ‘unknown’. The police should have arrested the father when they knew the vehicle involved is registered in his name. The acts of omission are deliberate to save the accused,” claimed S. Satheesh, Ernakulam district secretary of the CPI(M), to INDIA TODAY.Kochi City police commissioner S. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar told the media the police would move the district court to cancel the bail of the accused and for transfer of the case to the crime branch.The accident has hit headlines within days of another luxury car, allegedly driven by a teenager in a drunken state, killing three people in Nedumbassery near Kochi on October 11. Four people are named accused in the case. On October 26, a court in Ernakulum reserved its verdict on their bail pleas till the next hearing.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends