Kerala HC bars arrest of judge booked after minor son's Mercedes killed scooter rider in Kochi

The case against the judge

The judge is a serving member of the Kerala judiciary, and he has been named as the registered owner of the car. Reports differ on his post, describing him as an additional district judge at the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in Irinjalakuda or as a district and sessions judge. The first information report includes Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and Sections 181, 183, 199A(1) and 199A(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act. These cover driving without a licence, driving at excessive speed and offences by juveniles, and the last of them makes the owner or guardian liable in the case of a juvenile driver.

In his plea for anticipatory bail he has said that he was asleep when his son took the car and that he learnt of the accident from a phone call. His lawyer argued that knowledge cannot legally be attributed to a sleeping parent.

What the High Court said

Justice Kauser Edappagath heard the plea and granted interim protection. The Station House Officer of the Cheranalloor police station and other officers may not arrest the judge until further orders. In his remarks the judge said that he is a judicial officer who will cooperate, and he noted that the police had already questioned him for four hours. The judge was told to appear before the investigating officer on Thursday at 1 pm and as needed afterwards, and any questioning has to follow the law and the Supreme Court's guidelines. The court allowed the victim's family to be heard in the State's plea to cancel the son's bail, and it adjourned the matter to give the public prosecutor time to take instructions. No date for the next hearing was given in the reports.

The family of the victim opposes the judge's plea. They allege that the judge tampered with evidence after he learnt of the crash, and they have written to the Chief Justice of the High Court asking for an inquiry into his conduct. The police searched the judge's house and seized electronic devices, according to his lawyer.

The investigation has been moved to the District Crime Branch after public protests and political pressure. The state government has replaced the Kochi city police commissioner and suspended four policemen of the Cheranalloor station after allegations of lapses in the investigation, according to a report.

The High Court asked the public prosecutor to file the State's response before it decides the plea fully. Until then, the protection stays in place and the investigators can continue to question the judge, who has been told to cooperate.

The case turns on two questions. One is the responsibility of an adult who owns a vehicle that a minor drives, which the Motor Vehicles Act addresses with specific penalties. The other is whether the investigation has been fair and prompt, given the position of the owner. The High Court has not decided the judge's plea and has only protected him from arrest for now, and the police can continue to question him. The State's response will be heard at the next stage.