BENGALURU: A car cannot become a toy in the hands of underage children, Karnataka high court observed, refusing to quash culpable homicide proceedings against a Mysuru resident whose 14-year-old son caused an accident that left three members of a family dead in Dec 2020.“The steering wheel of a motor vehicle cannot become a plaything in the hands of a child, nor can a public road become the playground for such indulgence,” Justice M Nagaprasanna observed in his order dated Oct 16, stressing that parental responsibility cannot be evaded when a minor is willingly allowed to drive.The petitioner’s son was driving a Volkswagen Vento, entrusted to his father by his employer, when the accident took place on old Bengaluru-Mysuru road, killing a couple and their five-year-old son.The petitioner, Nadeem-Ur-Rehman, had challenged the rejection of his discharge plea by a trial court and had sought the quashing of proceedings against him under IPC section 304 Part-II, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was also facing allegations of other traffic violations.Karnataka recorded 751 accidents involving minors in 2025-26The petitioner contended that his son took the vehicle out without his knowledge. The case could, at best, be an offence based on rashness or negligence, but could not be elevated to culpable homicide, he further argued.Opposing the plea, the public prosecutor submitted that the material on record indicated the petitioner had handed the car keys to his son and permitted him to drive. He said this had allegedly happened on earlier occasions as well.A parent who knowingly hands car keys to a child cannot “retreat behind the minority of that child when the adventure ends in catastrophe”, HC observed. The question of whether a parent’s conduct was negligence or culpable knowledge could be decided at the trial, it said. Quoting statistics, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that Karnataka recorded 751 accidents involving minors in 2025-26, standing at sixth place among all states.
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