Two get 2-year RI in accident case

Ludhiana: A local court has sentenced two drivers to two-year rigorous imprisonment for causing death due to negligence in a road accident. The court of judicial magistrate, first class, Shivani Garg also imposed a fine of Rs 8,000 on each of the two convicts and in case of default in payment of fine, they will have to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for two months and fifteen days each.
On 24 January, 2013, Sarabha Nagar police had registered a case under Sections 304-A (causing death due to negligence), 279 and 427 of the IPC in the death case of Harjot Singh, who used to study in a private college at Jhande village.

Inderpal Singh deposed before the court that on January 24, 2013, he, along with his friend Bhupinder Singh, were going from Ludhiana to Mullanpur in his car. His nephew Harjot Singh was proceeding to his college on his motorcycle around 9.30am. He was driving his motorcycle at a very slow speed when two buses came from behind as soon as he reached near a mall on Ferozepur road. The buses were racing with each other so as to pick up more passengers. While doing so accused Palwinder Singh (driver of bus no.PB-31C- 4523) made an attempt to overtake the motorcycle being driven by Harjot at a very high speed in a reckless and negligent manner and rammed his bus into the bike. The impact made him fall on the road. The other accused Pargat Singh (driver of bus no.PB-10DD-(T)-6599) in an attempt to overtake the bus driven by Palwinder in a rash and negligent manner and crushed Harjot under the tyre of his bus. Pargat stopped his bus and later fled from the spot. Some time later Palwinder too managed to escape from the spot. Police later arrested the accused and presented a challan against him in court.

Counsel for accused Palwinder argued that in the present FIR no bus number had been mentioned. Moreover, he was driving a mini-bus, which started from bus stand at 9.30am. After that, the bus had to take passengers from 16 bus stops before reaching the spot of occurence and it was not possible that the bus could reach at 9.30am at the spot. So accused Palwinder Singh had not caused any accident while driving bus no.PB-31C-4523 and the accused had been falsely implicated in the present case.

Counsel for accused Pargat argued that their bus had to reach Ferozepur and they had no bus stops in Ludhiana. Further, he argued that Pargat was not challaned in the present case and he was summoned after moving an application under Section 319 CrPC.

The court turned down the pleas of the defence and after appreciating the evidence on the record observed that the accident took place due to recklessness and negligence of both drivers while driving their respective buses. It held that both of them were so negligent while driving their buses in a busy city that they killed a young boy of 18 years of age. It further observed that Palwinder was so negligent that he ran away from the spot, along with the bus, after hitting the deceased and Pargat Singh too followed suit.