The Kerala High Court has barred the police from arresting a judge booked after his minor son allegedly drove a Mercedes-Benz in a fatal Kochi crash, until further orders. The allegations are untested.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed that the police shall not arrest a judicial officer who has been booked after his 17-year-old son allegedly drove a Mercedes-Benz that hit a scooter in Cheranalloor, killing the rider, and asked the officer to cooperate with the investigation. The order was passed on his anticipatory bail application. The judge and his son are not named here because the son is a juvenile.
Justice Kauser Edappagath heard the plea. The allegations are untested, the Court has expressed no view on the merits, and the presumption of innocence applies to the applicant.
How the case reached here
In the early hours of Sunday, October 25, a Mercedes-Benz allegedly driven by the minor hit a scooter in Cheranalloor, and the 55-year-old rider died. The Juvenile Justice Board, Ernakulam, granted the minor bail on October 26, and the State has moved the Sessions Court to cancel it. The father, a judicial officer posted at Irinjalakuda, has been booked by the Cheranalloor police under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), read with Sections 181, 183 and 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Section 199A raises a presumption of responsibility against the guardian or owner when a juvenile commits an offence under the Act, subject to statutory exceptions.
On October 27 the High Court’s Administrative Committee decided to await police material before acting on a complaint by the victim’s family. The officer appeared before the police on October 28 and, his counsel told the Court, was questioned for over four hours, with another notice to appear issued.
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What the applicant argued
Senior Advocate P. Vijayabhanu, with Advocate John S. Ralph, submitted that the officer had no knowledge that his son had taken the vehicle and learnt of it only through a phone call about the accident. The plea argues that Section 105 BNS needs knowledge that the act is likely to cause death, and that attributing such knowledge to a parent who was asleep is legally untenable. It also says that a search warrant issued by the magistrate was executed at his residence, where electronic gadgets and a motorbike were seized, so nothing remains that needs custodial interrogation.
Counsel for the victim’s legal heirs opposed the plea and alleged that the officer tampered with evidence after learning of the accident. That is an allegation made in Court and has not been tested.
What the Court said and ordered
The Court orally questioned the need for further custodial questioning after the four-hour interrogation, and remarked that the applicant is a judicial officer who will cooperate. The operative direction was:
“The police shall not arrest the applicant until further orders.”
The officer was directed to appear before the investigating officer at 1 pm on the day of the order and thereafter as and when called, with any interrogation to follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines. The State was asked to give its response or instructions on the plea, and the Court allowed the impleading petition filed by the victim’s family. No next date has been reported.
Case Title: Anticipatory bail application by a judicial officer in the Kochi Mercedes-Benz crash case (Cheranalloor police station)
Bench: Justice Kauser Edappagath, Kerala High Court
Date of Order: October 29, 2026
Appearances: Senior Advocate P. Vijayabhanu and Advocate John S. Ralph for the applicant; counsel for the legal heirs of the deceased
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