Stringent punishment needed for reckless drivers: Court

Stringent punishment is needed for reckless drivers on road causing several deaths every day, a Delhi court has observed while refusing to set aside the two- year jail term awarded to a driver of an IAF bus for killing a man 16 years ago by driving negligently.
"Rash and negligent drivers are causing havoc on public roads. A number of persons lose their life daily due to rash and negligent act of reckless drivers.
"The menace of reckless driving by unscrupulous persons needs to be curbed. Stringent punishment needs to be awarded to such reckless drivers to give strong message to the society at large," Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi said.

The court, while dismissing the appeal of convicted bus driver, Satyawan, against a magisterial court order sending him to jail, said he be taken into custody immediately as the punishment given to him was appropriate under the facts of the case.
"There is no infirmity or perversity or illegality in the impugned judgment of conviction. The impugned judgment is based on sound reasoning and same does not call for any interference by this court. Accordingly, it is affirmed and upheld by this court," the sessions judge said.
The court also said that the convict was driving in such a rash and negligent manner that it endangered human life and safety of other users of the public road.

According to the prosecution, on April 26, 2000, the driver drove the bus, carrying air force personnel, in a rash and negligent manner near Defence Colony flyover here and hit the Maruti Zen car driven by victim Vishambharan from behind which then rammed into a tempo. Due to the impact, the car driver died on the spot.
The court noted that the postmortem report of the victim showed that he died due to injuries suffered by him in the accident.
In his appeal against the 2014 magisterial court order, the convict had contended that it was the victim who was driving the car in a rash and negligent manner.