AHMEDABAD: The chief officer and standing committee chairman of Navsari municipality have approached the Gujarat high court as they were booked on various charges after an elderly person was hit by a stray donkey and sustained injuries.
Chief officer Dashrathsinh Gohil and standing committee chairman Premchand Lalwani rushed to the HC for quashing of charges against them under various IPC sections – 166, 289, 290 and 338 for disobeying law as public servants, negligent conduct with respect to animals and endangering people’s lives. A local court on October 12 ordered Navsari police to register an FIR and investigate into their criminal liability for injury caused to a senior citizen.
In this case, Abdul Ghani Kapadia was having a walk on Navsari streets when he was hit by a stray donkey on August 26, 2019. He fell down, sustained multiple injuries and was hospitalized. His son, Nadeem, is a practising advocate.
The lawyer son approached local police and requested them to book the municipality officials for the negligence that resulted in stray cattle nuisance on public street. He said it was a violation of Section 241of the Municipality Act in that stray cattle posed danger to public life on street and his father sustained grave injuries.
The police inquired into the complaint and concluded that criminal liability cannot be fixed on the chief officer and the standing committee chairman for the stray cattle nuisance and for the incident because the civic body had taken enough care to impound stray cattle.
As the cops did not act, the lawyer approached the local court and demanded action against Gohil and Lalwani arguing that it was due to their negligent behaviour that his father was hurt and therefore criminal liability must be pinned on them. On October 12, the chief judicial magistrate ordered the police to register an FIR against Gohil and Lalwani, investigate the charges and report.
Both, Gohil and Lalwani, rushed to the HC questioning the FIR . After preliminary hearing, Justice A S Supehia has stayed their arrest but allowed the police to continue with the investigation. The HC has also ordered the office-bearers to cooperate with the investigator. Meanwhile, the court has sought the government’s reply on this issue by December 4, said their advocate Archit Jani