Section 279 and 280 to 289, Section 304A, 336, 337 and 338 of Indian Penal code, 1860 deal with the accused’s rash and negligent conduct endangering the safety of others. All these sections cover the possibility or likelihood of injury as a result of the accused’s conduct. Under all these sections, there is a rash and negligent act involved a one of the ingredients of the offence and that rash or negligent driving or riding on a public road is therefore, be covered by all these sections. But section 304A, 337 and 338 are specific provisions relating to cases in which rash and negligent driving or riding result in the death of another person or in hurt or grievous hurt caused to another person.

Acquittal in Accident Cases
Acquittal in Accident Cases

Often the accused is acquitted of the offence on the ground that the prosecution is not able to establish the offence within the criteria of beyond reasonable doubt and fails to prove the guilt of accused beyond all shadows of doubt.In the case of State v. Kuldeep Singh the accused was acquitted because the prosecution was not able to prove its story in the court. The brief facts of the case are that on December 6, 2015, when assistant sub inspector (ASI) Alam Chand received a message on his wireless that a tempo driver near sector 42 lake had committedan accident and fled. The ASI visited PGI to meet Rashpal, a resident of Maloya the injured who later succumbed to his injuries. An eye witness Devinder Singh gave the statement and told the police that he witnessed a cyclist coming from sector 41 side being hit by a tempo driver in a rash and negligent manner. On the basis of this statement a FIR was registered and on December 11, 2015 an accidental offending vehicle was apprehended near Ambedkar Chowk, Sector 42 and Kuldeep Singh was arrested.

The defense argued that his client was falsely implicated and the very fabric of prosecution’s story was weak. The court acquitted the accused and held that there were various flaws in the story of the prosecution and it felt made up. Court held that the prosecution failed to connect the accused and vehicle in question at the site of the accident and its story felt “cooked up”. Kuldeep Singh was acquitted giving him the benefit of doubt.

Accident is an unforeseen incident and it must not be a ground to let off the offender. If a person, who is sole bread winner of his family, is died in accident by rash or negligent act of a person, such family may become destitute forever. Yet no person whose guilt cannot be proved should be held liable as this is against the basic principles of criminal justice system.

For case specific advice, one can contact best/top/expert criminal/lawyer Advocate handling accident /MACT cases in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali (Punjab & Haryana).

This post is written by Abhay Tripathi of SLS, Pune. For more info, dial 99888-17966.