1 dead and 9 hurt, but just a few weeks in reform home for minor

New Delhi: A little over two and a half months after a 17-year-old boy ploughed his car into shoppers at Mayur Vihar market in east Delhi, killing a woman and injuring nine others, police have filed their final report before the juvenile justice board.The teenager, police sources said, spent three weeks at the juvenile reformation home before being given bail. However, no specific preventive action or condition was laid down by JJB before his release, according to police officers.The cops filed the police investigation report (PIR) in the March 13 case on May 11. Police had filed an FIR under Section 304 (culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code while also invoking Section 279 (rash driving) and 337 (causing hurt by negligent act) against the teen driver. They were also contemplating writing to the juvenile board to try the teenager, who was a few months short of turning 18, as an adult, but didn’t.Sheetal, the woman who had died in the incident, was 22 years old. She was in the market for groceries when she was fatally hit by the car. Her family had told TOI she had come to Delhi some months earlier in search of a job to support her family. She found one at a factory in Noida, where she earned Rs 10,000 per month. “She used to send part of the money home and spend the rest on rent and her studies in industrial training,” her brother said.The accident had caused an uproar on social media after the CCTV footage of the crash surfaced. The boy had decided to take the family car out for a spin with his friends when his parents were out of town. When they approached the busy weekly market in Mayur Vihar, the car spun out of control and rammed into shoppers along a 500-metre stretch, killing Sheetal and injuring nine others.The boy, who was driving the silver-coloured Hyundai Aura, was caught by locals who thrashed him and handed him over to the police. The cops said the minor didn’t know how to drive properly and lost control of the vehicle and mowed down some people. When a crowd gathered and became aggressive, the teen reversed in an effort to flee, but only ended up hitting several others.According to a police officer, “The teenager’s friend got the keys of the car from their common friend, Raj Kumar, who is a cab driver for an app-based company. He gave the keys to his friend, who then passed them on to the juvenile.” Kumar was also booked but was granted bail by the court.