Incidents where public servants become victims of road rage are not rare in Delhi.
Keeping the same in mind, a Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced Sachin Khurana, the son of a sitting MCD councillor, to a year in jail for beating up the driver and conductor of a Haryana Roadways bus in January 2006.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs.25,000 on him, of which Rs.20,000 will go to the conductor who was injured in the incident.
Sachin Khurana, the son of Congress leader Madhu Khurana, a councillor from Model Basti, was held guilty and sentenced by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pooran Chand. He was given time to file an appeal.
However, when he was taken to the record room at the Tis Hazari court complex, Sachin went to make a phone call but did not come back. Thereafter, a complaint was made against him by the prosecution department.
On January 6, 2006, one Duli Chand was driving a Haryana Roadways bus. When the bus was crossing East Park Road, it hit a wrongly parked vehicle. When the driver raised his voice that the vehicles be removed, Sachin Khurana came out from a nearby hotel and manhandled the driver. They both apologised for having unintentionally hit the vehicle but in vain.
He also threw the conductor on the floor of the bus and beat him up.
The prosecution contended that the convict was involved in the act of beating up a public servant on duty. It also submitted that since his mother was a councillor, he had a social responsibility not to indulge in such acts. The court said: “The complainant was a government servant. If such a convict is leniently dealt with, then the common people would lose faith in this system.”
