A Kerala bus driver who blamed his “deformed left wrist” for an accident which killed 5 passengers and injured 63 others gained a partial reprieve within the Supreme Court docket.
A Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, in a current order, decreased the jail time period of the person from 5 years to 1. The court docket cancelled the five-year jail sentence of the motive force’s brother, who occurred to be the proprietor of the bus and ordered him to pay ₹ 7.5 lakh to be disbursed among the many households of those that died within the mishap over 11 years in the past.
The 2 brothers, represented by advocate Sriram Parakkat, had approached the court docket after the Kerala Excessive Court docket confirmed the trial court docket judgment of 5 years’ rigorous imprisonment for the duo.
The trial court docket had discovered that the brother who drove the bus didn’t have a sound licence. It had concluded that the accused knew that placing such a person within the driver’s seat might result in an accident.
The Excessive Court docket agreed that the punishment would act as a deterrent for rushing drivers, and didn’t discover the punishment disproportionate.
In its order, the court docket mentioned the accident might have been brought on by rash driving or by another cause. It was mistaken to say the mishap was brought on solely as a result of deformity of the motive force’s left wrist. Be as it could, the Bench mentioned the occasion led to lots of people struggling. Nevertheless, on the similar time, the court docket discovered that there was no widespread intention on the a part of the brothers to trigger the deaths. The Bench discovered the punishment disproportionate.
“It was not correct to invoke Part 304-II learn with Part 34 of the IPC inasmuch as there was no widespread intention to trigger the demise of the passengers by inflicting a highway visitors accident. Subsequently, to that extent, there was non-application of thoughts by the trial court docket and the identical being affirmed by the Excessive Court docket isn’t just and correct,” the court docket reasoned.
It famous that the brother who owned the bus didn’t have any function in inflicting the accident.