Gujarat high court dilutes charges in fatal road accident cases

AHMEDABAD: In a landmark judgment, Gujarat high court on Wednesday said that the more severe charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, or section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), is not applicable against the driver in a case pertaining to a fatal accident.

The punishment provided under section 304 is a jail term of up to 10 years. The court said section 304A, causing death by criminal negligence, should be applied against the offending driver for accidents involving fatalities. The punishment under this section is up to two years in prison.

Justice J B Pardiwala made the above observation and dropped charges under section 304 against Mayur Desai, who is the son-in-law of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

On September 18, 2013, Desai's Land Cruiser hit a motorcycle on the road between Bopal Ring Road and Rajpath Club. A 22-year-old, Hiral Thummar, who was riding pillion, was killed in the accident.

Vastrapur police first invoked section 304A, but later dropped it and added section 304 against Desai, besides other charges for rash driving. The court accepted the addition of the more serious charge.

Desai requested a sessions court in Mirzapur to drop the section 304 charge and to send the case to a magisterial court for trial. His application was rejected. He challenged this rejection before the HC, which struck down the more serious charge and ordered the invocation of section 304A against Desai and that the trial should now be conducted by a magistrate.

In a long order which discusses various court orders in depth, the HC said, "Section 304 of IPC, in cases of vehicular accidents, should not be invoked by way of punishment or with the idea that it is necessary to curb the menace of vehicular accidents which are on the increase day by day."

The court further said that term "high speed" is also vague.

"Even while driving at slow speed, the driving may be rash or negligent," the courts said and questioned whether it would have made a difference if Desai had been driving at the prescribed speed limit of 60 km/hour and not 86 km/hour. If the driver drives the vehicle fast with the knowledge that the brakes are in a poor condition, police is justified in invoking section 304 of IPC.