Kolkata ASI death: Strict charges slapped

KOLKATA: Two days after assistant sub-inspector of Cossipore Bisweswar Chandra Roy died in a road accident on Dum Dum Road, the police have invoked charges pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
If convicted under IPC 304 (II) - the harshest that can be slapped for an accident - the accused truck driver, Guddu Shaw (38), can face up to 10 years in jail. Guddu has also been slapped with IPC 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
The decision by the police, though, has ruffled feathers of witnesses. Satyendra Dubey, a witness, said the driver could have done little to prevent the accident. "The bike had overtaken the truck and was on a slope. The rider was responsible for the accident. The ASI landed on the right side of the road and thus came under the truck. Given the condition of the road, the truck driver could have been negligent, but he could not have been speeding. Under such circumstances, I fail to see why this case is any different from others when even drunk drivers have escaped harsher punishments," Dubey said.
The cops said they had evidence that the sequence of events suggests that the driver was aware that he was breaking traffic laws. "We have had the necessary mechanical tests conducted for the same," an officer said.