The Bombay High Court, on Monday, overturned a 27-year-old conviction of a BEST bus driver, Shivaji Karne, for the death of a pedestrian, citing insufficient evidence to prove rash and negligent driving. Justice Milind Jadhav presided over the case, delivering a verdict that acquitted Karne and emphasized the absence of any witness testimony indicating that he was speeding or had violated traffic signals.
The incident, which occurred on December 2, 1997, involved Karne driving a bus from Chira Bazaar to Crawford Market in south Mumbai. During the journey, while making a turn at a traffic signal, he accidentally struck a pedestrian crossing the road. Despite Karne and the bus conductor’s immediate efforts to rush the victim to the hospital, the individual was declared dead upon arrival.
Initially, a magistrate’s court convicted Karne in 2001 under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code, a decision upheld by the sessions court in 2002. Karne served two months of a three-month simple imprisonment sentence before being released on bail.
In his ruling, Justice Jadhav noted the emotional impact of the pedestrian’s death on the previous judgments and stated, “There is no doubt that the incident has led to the death of a person, but when there is no evidence relating to rash and negligent driving, the conviction of the applicant (Karne) is not justified and warranted.”
The High Court’s decision highlighted that the prosecution failed to demonstrate criminal rashness or culpable negligence on Karne’s part. Additionally, the court considered Karne’s immediate response to the accident, his age at the time of the accident (32 years old), and his current age (58 years), factoring these into its judgment.
