In Mercedes Hit-And-Run, Teenage Driver May Be Tried As An Adult

New Delhi: In the first order under the amended Juvenile Justice Act, the teenager accused in the Mercedes hit-and-run case in Delhi is likely face trial as an adult.

The Juvenile Justice board's order came while allowing the plea of Delhi Police seeking to try the offender - who was 17 at the time - as an adult, as the offence came under the definition of heinous crime.

The student had turned 18 four days after the accident in which a 32-year-old marketing executive Siddharth Sharma was killed on April 4.

Delhi Police on May 26 had indited the teenager for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The same charges were also filed against the teenager's father. The police had asked for the teenager to be tried as an adult in a trial court and had also pleaded to revoke his bail.

The police told the Juvenile Justice board that the teenager was a repeat offender and that he had a history of traffic violations which included over-speeding and he was booked for it on June 17, 2015.

He was also booked for driving in violation of traffic regulations on February 25, 2014 and for not wearing a seat belt on September 19, 2014.

On February 16, 2016, he was involved in a minor traffic accident at Maurice Nagar area in north Delhi, which was settled but he put a forged signature on the settlement papers to avoid detection, the police had said.

"We know we won't get justice easily. We're fighting to set an example that no one is above law, said Shilpa Mittal," Siddharth's sister.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2015 allows for juveniles 16 years or older to be tried as adults for heinous offences like rape and murder. The Act was amended following public outrage after one of the offenders in the December 16, 2012 gang rape case escaped being tried in the court as he was a few months short of turning 18.