Who is responsible when underage drivers cause fatal crashes? Indian law needs a reform

India records approximately 1.7 lakh road fatalities every year, says government data. But within those numbers is a subset that rarely receives attention: deaths caused by underage drivers driving vehicles without valid licences.

Data submitted in Rajya Sabha in March 2025 shows that minors were involved in 11,890 road accidents between 2023 and 2024.

In the past few years, deaths caused by minors illegally driving high-end vehicles have sparked outrage and demands for justice.

For instance, a 17-year-old driving a Porsche allegedly knocked down a man and a woman in Pune in May 2024. In February, an SUV driven by a minor allegedly crashed into a 23-year-old two-wheeler rider in Delhi’s Dwarka.

In both instances, the underage drivers were granted bail after they were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. In July 2025, the Juvenile Justice Board said the underage driver in the Pune Porsche case will be tried as a juvenile.

Cases of underage drivers involved in fatal road crashes point to the need for reform that holds the adult or vehicle owner strictly responsible for the actions of the underage driver, and a compensation policy that can quickly address the loss of the victim’s family.

Familiar pattern

Road safety discourse in India focuses on infrastructure and vehicle standards, instead of the human choices that precede a crash.

Minors driving without valid licences falls squarely in that blind spot: it is a result of behaviour shaped and enabled by the underage driver’s home and social context.

My interactions with investigating officers in Hyderabad and Delhi found that minors involved in fatal crashes had previously driven vehicles, often with the tacit knowledge of adults.

Data on traffic compliance checks shows how minors illegally driving vehicles is common. For instance, data from the National Crime Records Bureau for 2022 showed that 884 minors, between the ages of 16 and 18, were detained for rash driving in India.

Legal provisions

The principle of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, is sound: since adolescents are still developing their moral judgement, rehabilitation is the main goal.

But fatal road crashes involving underage drivers, especially if they are behind the wheels of large, expensive vehicles, point to adult negligence. In such cases, the privilege of wealth and circumstances ends up shielding the offenders.

In road accidents involving death, the police usually invoke Section 106 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for causing death due to negligence, alongside Section 281 for rash driving.

If underage drivers are involved, they are governed by the Juvenile Justice Act, even if these provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita are invoked. According to the Juvenile Justice Act, a teenager between 16 and 18 can be tried as an adult only for “heinous offences”, which are offences with a minimum punishment of at least seven years.

Since Section 106(1) has a maximum punishment of five years while Section 281 carries a maximum of six months, neither meets the threshold of a “heinous offence”. As a result, even in fatal accident cases involving underage drivers, the law does not treat 16-to 18-year-olds as adults

While addressing this gap is a broader legal debate, there already exists a provision which could be modified to better tackle deaths caused by minors illegally driving vehicles.

Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act of 2019 holds the guardian or vehicle owner liable for offences committed by underage drivers. Section 199A also states that the guardian or vehicle owner must also be punished with imprisonment for up to three years and a fine.

In case the minor holds a valid learner’s licence, the guardian is not responsible. Since a learner’s licence in India is easily obtained with little scrutiny, it helps weaken the case for holding a guardian or vehicle owner responsible for crashes and deaths involving a minor.

Further, this provision is used inconsistently on the ground. A Kerala High Court judgement issued in 2024 shows why. The court dismissed more than 70 petitions by guardians challenging proceedings under Section 199A.

The legal precedent, up until then, was that Section 199A cannot be invoked against a guardian without a formal charge or first information report against the juvenile. Underage driving is a petty offence under the Motor Vehicles Act and under the Juvenile Justice Act, registering an FIR against the minor is prohibited according to Rule 8 of the JJ Model Rules.

Dismissing all 70 petitions, the court held that proceedings can be initiated under Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act against the guardian of a juvenile or the owner of a motor vehicle information about the offence has been registered in the general diary of a police station.

What can change

The guardian or vehicle owner’s liability under Section 199A should be recast as a strict liability offence by removing the proviso to Section 199A(1), which currently allows a guardian to escape punishment by proving the offence occurred without their knowledge or that they exercised due diligence. There should also be penalties scaled to household income so that wealthier offenders face proportionately higher fines.

The consequences for underage drivers should be real but rehabilitative: supervision, road safety education alongside the existing licence bar with the Juvenile Justice Board empowered to enforce a rehabilitative framework.

At the same time, there must be a statutory compensation mechanism to guarantee a floor payment to the victim’s family within 60 days, drawing from insurers, registered owners and the state. In cases involving underage drivers, it is more difficult for the victim’s family to seek compensation through standard insurance processes in Motor Accident Claims Tribunals.

Accountability must begin with the adult responsible for the underage driver while adequately compensating the victim’s family at the earliest.

The author is Assistant Manager, Policy Advocacy at Crashfree India, an organisation that aims to make mobility safer. The views expressed are personal.