Reliance Industries’ in-house lawyer, Janhavi Gadkar who was drunk at the time when she rammed her Audi into a taxi while driving in the wrong lane across the Eastern Freeway and killed two on June 10 this year, has been let off scott free. Out on bail since August, she has not only been given back her Audi car which she was driving at the time but her driving license has also been returned to her. Unlike a similar Salman Khan case, where there were apparently no witnesses, this one was a solid case for the Indian judiciary system with sworn statements from 57 witnesses and a 560-page charge-sheet. So how did Ms Gadkar manage to get back into the free world? Does the verdict of allowing Janhavi Gadkar to return to normal corporate life draws attention to the flaws in our judicial system? The taxi which was rammed by Ms Gadkar’s Audi Q3. Inside the taxi were 57 yr old driver, Salim Sabuwala in front passenger seat, his wife and three children in the rear seat. Driver and Salim died in the accident. While police strongly resisted Gadkar’s bail plea, her lawyer, Amit Desai (the same lawyer who managed to get Salman Khan bail after he was convicted of culpable homicide by a Mumbai Sessions Court Judge), and Sessions court judge Sanjay Patil argued that since the accused was a woman, her case should be dealt with differently. Really? Gadkar rammed her red coloured Audi Q3 into a Maruti Eeco taxi while driving across the Eastern Freeway in Mumbai, killing two persons on the night of June 10, 2015 as she returned after a corporate party. She was booked under rash driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Also See – Salman Khan acquitted by Mumbai High Court, all charges dropped in the hit and run case
A 560 page report with 57 witnesses was filed, her license was revoked while her Audi Q3 was taken into police custody. However, six months into the incident, Gadkar, a repeated offender of drunk driving, is a free woman with her license returned, her car given back and she free to once more drive the streets.
