A man facing trial for the last 14 years for causing death of a 72-year-old woman pedestrian by his negligent driving has been sent to one year in jail by a Delhi court which refused to take a lenient view, saying the impact of the offence was "grave and traumatic."
Metropolitan Magistrate Sandeep Gupta handed down the jail term to Sonipat resident Jasbir Singh, who had caused death of the woman while reversing his mini bus "negligently".
"Since offence of road accidents are on high rise in society and keeping in view that rash and negligent driving of the convict (Singh) has taken somebody's life, hence, considering the gravity and traumatic impact of the offence, I am not inclined to release the convict on probation," the magistrate said and directed him to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the woman's son who was a Delhi Police officer.
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While convicting Singh, the court relied on the testimony of two eyewitnesses, one of whom had lodged the complaint against Singh.
"There seems to be no plausible reason also as to why the testimonies of the two eyewitnesses cannot be relied upon and as such, there are no major contradictions or discrepancies in their testimonies," the court said.
It noted that as per the testimony of the eyewitnesses, the bus was being reversed without giving any horn or signal which "in itself showed the rash and negligent act per se of the accused in driving the offending vehicle."
The court, however, acquitted Singh of the charge of not having a valid driving licence at the time of the accident as it could not be proved.
According to the prosecution, Om Prakash, an eyewitness, had lodged the complaint that on December 27, 1998, his neighbour Shanti Devi was hit by the mini bus being rashly and negligently driven by Singh when he was reversing it in Bawana area here.
He said that he was standing nearby with his friend when he heard screams of the woman and saw that she was being dragged by the bus.
He and his friend tried to stop Singh but he fled from the spot and they took the aged woman to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead by the doctors, police said.
Singh claimed that he was falsely implicated and sought leniency from the court on the ground that he has to look after his two minor daughters.
