A Delhi court has upheld six months’ imprisonment to a city bus driver who was convicted for negligent and rash driving when his vehicle jumped over the footpath and hit a tree injuring 10 persons in 2009.
Additional Sessions Judge Neera Bharihoke refused to set aside the jail term of the driver, Bikkar Singh, and awarded the sentence to him for putting in danger the lives of the passengers.
The driver had come in an appeal against the judgment of a Metropolitan Magistrate court order that had held him guilty and awarded the punishment under Sections 279 (driving or riding on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 337 (causing hurt by an act which endangers human life) of the IPC.
Passengers’ testimonies
The court relied on the testimonies of the passengers and said their statements that the driver did not slow down the bus despite their request were reliable.
“I have perused the testimonies of all the witnesses of the prosecution and find them to be trustworthy and reliable witnesses. They have corroborated each other on material points and their testimonies have also remained unshattered and unshaken in their cross-examination,” the judge said.
The mechanical inspection report of the bus which said that it was in high speed when it had hit the tree also proved vital in the conviction of the accused.
According to the prosecution, Singh was driving the bus negligently on route no. 520 on its way to Connaught Place with 10 passengers onboard.
When it was near the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan on Sri Aurobindo Marg, the driver had run the vehicle over the footpath and hit the tree causing grievous injuries to the passengers, the prosecution alleged.
