Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has questioned why "preferential treatment" was meted out to a wealthy, 17-year-old drunken boy who killed two persons zooming in his Porsche car, sparking an uproar in public and political circles, here on Tuesday.
In a video statement, Rahul Gandhi said that when any autorickshaw drivers and cabbies or Ola or Uber drivers or bus drivers or truckers kill anybody unintentionally, they are dumped in jail for 10 years and the (jail) keys are thrown away.
“However, when a teenage kid from a rich family consumes alcohol and kills two people in his Porsche, he is told to pen an ‘essay’. Why are the other bus, truck autorickshaw drivers or cabbies not asked to write such essays,” said Rahul Gandhi sharply.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was questioned about dividing the country into two ‘Hindustans’ – one of the poor and the other of billionaires, he responded by asking whether all should be made poor.
“The question is of justice – the poor and the prosperous. All should be entitled to equal justice. That’s why we are fighting. We are fighting for equality of justice and against injustice,” declared Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress leader’s statement came amid a massive public outcry following the tragic incident in which two techies from Madhya Pradesh were killed in a speeding Porsche driven by the teenage son of a prominent Pune builder, Vishal Agarwal early on Sunday morning.
While Vishal has been arrested, along with the owner and managers of a Mundhwa hotel and pub, the minor boy was let off on bail by the Juvenile Justice Board which asked him to write a 300-word essay on the accident, serve with the Yerawada Traffic Police department for two weeks and undergo counselling and medical treatment to give up alcohol.
The issue snowballed into a major political row with the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders like Congress’ Vijay Wadettiwar and Pune MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s MP Sanjay Raut demanding a judicial probe and removing Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, slamming the police for serving pizzas to the accused while two dead bodies were lying on the road, among other things.
While the builder Agarwal is being interrogated by the Pune Police, three other accused - Prahlad Bhutada, manager Sachin Katkar and bartender Sandeep Sangle – have been sent to police custody till April 24 for allegedly serving alcohol illegally to a minor customer and his friends, and the premises were raided and sealed by the State Excise Department on Tuesday.
Rattled by the public outcry, Deputy CM and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis rushed unannounced to the Pune Police Commissionerate and held detailed discussions with the top brass, and said that the police was proceeding on the right track.
However, activists and lawyers including Asim Sarode have accused the police of wilfully invoking mild charges and have intervened in the case seeking justice for the two techies who lost their lives.