No action against judicial officer for now: the Kerala High Court will first wait for further material from the police investigation into the fatal Kochi crash in which the officer’s minor son allegedly drove the Mercedes-Benz.
Kochi: A complaint from the family of the 55-year-old man who died in the Kochi Mercedes-Benz crash has, for the moment, led to no step against a judicial officer. At a preliminary meeting on October 27, 2026, the Administrative Committee of the Kerala High Court examined the complaint and decided to await further material from the ongoing police investigation before deciding how to proceed.
The Committee consists of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and the five senior-most judges of the High Court. The officer in question is a Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal judge at Irinjalakuda and the father of the minor accused; neither he nor his son is named here because the son is a juvenile. The allegations are untested, the investigation is continuing, and the Court has expressed no view on the merits.
Wait for the police material
The Committee resolved at that meeting to take no action against the judicial officer at present. The family has been informed that its complaint has been placed before the appropriate administrative authority, and no date has been fixed for the Committee to consider the matter again.
What the victim’s children wrote
The victim’s children had written to the Chief Justice. They asked the High Court to look into whether an administrative or disciplinary enquiry against the officer is warranted, and to call for reports on the registration and progress of the criminal case, especially the invocation of Section 199A. They further sought protection for the independence and impartiality of the investigation, preservation of the CCTV footage at the Cheranalloor police station, and an objective examination of the allegations against the officer. These are the complainants’ requests, and they have not been tested.
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The crash and the case so far
At about 2.20 am on a Sunday, a Mercedes-Benz allegedly driven by a 17-year-old struck a scooter near Container Road in Cheranalloor, Kochi. The rider, a 55-year-old who owned a roadside eatery, died. The car stands in the name of the minor’s father. The police first booked the minor under Sections 281 and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, for rash driving and causing death by negligence, and later added a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
On Monday the Juvenile Justice Board, Ernakulam, granted the minor bail, and the State’s plea to cancel that bail is pending before a Sessions Court. The Kochi City Police Commissioner has since been replaced over alleged lapses in handling the case. The father has been made an accused under Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as the registered owner of the vehicle; the provision fixes responsibility on a guardian or owner when a juvenile commits an offence under the Act.
Matter: Complaint by the victim’s family against a judicial officer, before the Administrative Committee of the Kerala High Court
Committee: Chief Justice Soumen Sen and five senior-most judges, Kerala High Court
Date of Meeting: October 27, 2026