16-year-old billed habitual offender and booked in 17 cases; his lawyer says there is no conclusive evidence
The 16-year-old is lodged at the Dongri remand home
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There are still a couple of months before Sumit Dholkar (name changed), 16, has to appear for the HSC exams, but he and his parents are already facing the biggest test of their lives. For the last three weeks, Sumit has been lodged in the children's remand home at Dongri - while the police claim he stole 17 bikes, his parents are struggling to prove his innocence and, at the very least, get him out on bail in time for the board exams.
Representation pic/Thinkstock
Interestingly, even though the Kurar police have labelled Sumit a habitual offender, they don't believe he was stealing the bikes for money. According to the cops, the 16-year-old would hotwire bikes and merely go for joyrides until the fuel tank went empty. After that, he would just abandon the two-wheeler.
According to Sumit's parents, however, none of this is true. They claim the police are trying to frame the boy without concrete evidence. His father Ashok (name changed to protect the minor's identity) claims that the cops arrested him solely on the basis of CCTV footage in which a person resembling Sumit is seen starting a parked motorcycle. On this basis alone, the cops have charged Sumit in 10 FIRs so far. Worse yet, the cops claim the boy was involved in a total of 17 bike thefts.
Father says
On December 19, the family was shocked when the police turned up at their home in Kurar village, Malad East. "The police came to our house around 10 pm and searched the cupboard. They asked Sumit to wear a particular outfit that they had found in the cupboard and took him along with them. It was only the next morning that the cops told us about the charges, and it came as a shock," Ashok recalled.
"For the last three weeks, my son has been at the correction home, terrified and shaken up. He is an average student and was keen to appear for his HSC examination. I can't bear to see my son crying; I will ensure he is released, so he can appear for his exams," he added.
Can't afford bail
Soon after his arrest, Sumit was sent to the borstal in Dongri, and ever since, his parents have been trying to get him released. But thanks to the number of cases Sumit has been charged in, they cannot afford to post bail.
On Monday, when Sumit's bail plea came up for hearing before J V Pekhale Purkar, Principal Magistrate (suburban) of the Juvenile Justice Board, Dongri, the family learnt they would have to cough up Rs 7,000 as bail for nine of the cases, along with a surety of R15,000 for the 10th case. This means Sumit's parents will have to raise as much as Rs 63,000 in bail - a near impossible task on the combined income of his father, who works two jobs as a car washer and peon, and his mother who works as a domestic help.
Sumit's lawyer, Mikhail Dey, told mid-day that the cops were wrong to charge the minor in 10 cases merely on the basis of circumstantial evidence (CCTV footage) in one of the cases. "The police have framed my client in a false and fabricated case. He has only been arraigned as an accused because the police do not know the real culprit. In fact, even the FIR does not name my client as an accused."
He added, "The CCTV camera did not capture the suspect riding the bike. Instead of probing the case, the police were quick to show Sumit as an accused in the FIR on December 19. He was picked up the same day and sent to the correction home. It is unfair that the police have labelled a Std XII student of being a habitual offender, and have shown him as an accused in serial thefts without evidence or complaint. He has already lost out on the crucial preliminary examinations, and is still in a state of shock."
The lawyer further stated that the cops had also left seven other cases open, so even if Sumit is released on bail, there is the chance that the police will arrest him again. Dey pleaded to the court, "If the juvenile is not released on bail, he is likely to suffer irreparable loss, as he will not be able to appear for his board exams and his career will be ruined."
Police speak
Udaykumar Rajshirke, senior police inspector of Kurar police station, said, "We have sufficient evidence to establish the case against Sumit, and we have also recovered the two-wheelers he stole. The fact remains that we have registered a case on the basis of evidence which establish his involvement."
10
No. of bike theft cases the minor has been charged in
17
No. of cases the police claim the minor is involved in
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