Observing that “a deterrent punishment is required in road accident cases”, a Delhi court has maintained one-year imprisonment to a car driver for killing a truck driver by hitting the heavy stationary vehicle from behind at Moolchand Flyover underpass in 2010.
The court ordered taking the convict in custody and sending him to jail to serve the sentence.
The truck was standing at the underpass as one of its rear tyres had got flat.
The driver with the assistance of the helper was changing it. Meanwhile, the car came at a high speed and rammed the truck.
It went underneath and hit the truck driver as well.
The truck driver was immediately rushed to a hospital where he died after a few days.
The helper also sustained injuries.
A Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Court had sentenced the car driver, indentified as Santosh Kumar, to one-year of imprisonment on the evidence by the lone passenger of the car and the helper of the truck.
The car driver had come in appeal against the MM court judgement before Additional Sessions Judge Suresh Kumar Gupta, submitting that the evidence by the car passenger and the helper of the truck were not appreciated in a proper perspective.
‘No major contradiction’
Dismissing the appeal, the Judge said, “No major contradiction is brought on record to bring their testimony [car passenger and truck helper] into zone of doubt or to cast aspersions on their testimony. They have given details of the accident which show that accident has taken place due to rash and negligent driving of the appellant [car driver].”
The court also dismissed the car driver’s plea for a lenient punishment.
No sympathy
“A deterrent punishment is required in road accident cases so that persons who ply vehicles on the road must bear in mind that they will have to face serious consequences, including conviction and imprisonment in case there is a fatal accident. The appellant cannot claim sympathy from the court. The leniency is not required in such like cases,” the Judge said.
