Dismissing an argument by the accused that the prosecution witnesses were not in agreement on the make of the offending vehicle, a Delhi court has upheld the conviction and two-year rigorous imprisonment of a driver in a road accident case.
A Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) court had sentenced Megh Lal Yadav to two years in prison in the case. He was also sentenced to six months of rigorous imprisonment for another offence.
The driver had appealed against the judgment. According to the prosecution, the convict had crushed a two-and-a-half-year old child to death while reversing his vehicle in a crowded market in 2002. The mother had taken the child along to the market to buy vegetables.
“Merely because witnesses have termed the offending vehicle as TATA or Marshal or had given all the requisite details despite being illiterate, cannot be termed as circumstance leading to discredit the testimony of these witnesses when it is also admitted fact that vehicle TATA Safari and Marshal are of similar size and look,” Special Judge Savita Rao said while dismissing the defence argument and upholding the conviction and sentence.
‘Rash and negligent’
The court also dismissed another defence argument that a few of the prosecution witnesses were relatives of the victim.
“Merely because all the eye witnesses were relatives of the victim cannot be sufficient reason to doubt their testimony. Rather they were the person who were more concerned about the welfare of the victim and also raised an alarm which was unheeded by the appellant,” the Judge said.
“With regard to non joining of any other public witnesses, it is a matter of common knowledge that public persons due to fear of the police and to avoid visits to court/police station, generally remain reluctant to become witness to the incident,” the Judge further said.
“The act of reversing the vehicle without blowing any horn and without ensuring that no one is behind the vehicle as rightly noted (by the MM who held the accused guilty) was grossly rash and negligent,” the court added.
Yadav was arrested on the order of the court and taken to Tihar jail to serve the sentence.
