Penal Code, 1860:
ss. 304A, 337 and 279 – Negligent and rash driving – Resulting in death of four and injury to three persons – Trial Court convicted the accused u/ss. 279, 337 (3 counts) and 304A (4 counts) and sentenced him to four months imprisonment for offence u/s. 304A imposed fine of Rs.200/- for offence u/s. 279 and of Rs.100/- for the offence u/s. 337 – Appellate Court as well as Revision Court upheld the conviction and sentence – On appeal, held: The courts below rightly concluded that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving – No case is made out for reducing the punishment, as Trial Court has already been considerate in awarding the punishment.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1.1 The suggestion that the accident in question occurred for the fault of the on-coming vehicle from the opposite direction has been rejected with reference to the evidence on record wherein the witness, including the injured persons, uniformly stated that the accident occurred for rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle by the appellant. So far the question of identity of the appellant as driver of the offending bus is concerned, the trial court, the appellate court and then the High Court have found the fact duly proved with reference to the overwhelming evidence on record, including the testimony of PW1 to PW5. [Paras 11 and 12] [605-E-F; 606-B]
1.2 There is no infirmity in the appreciation of evidence by the sub-ordinate courts and by the High Court, who have concurrently reached to the definite conclusion that the accident occurred for rash and negligent driving of the vehicle by the appellant that resulted in the death of four persons apart from causing injuries to three. The devastation in terms of casualties and injuries, as brought about by the appellant, was bound to result in his conviction for the offences under Sections 304-A IPC (four counts) and 337 IPC (three counts). [Para 13] [606-C-D]
2. No case for reducing the punishment awarded to the appellant is made out. For rash and negligent driving by the appellant, as many as four persons died and three other sustained injuries. Yet, the trial court had been considerate in awarding the sentence only of four months’ imprisonment for each count of the offence under Section 304-A IPC and only of fine of Rs. 100 for each count of the offence under Section 337 IPC and Rs. 200/- for the offence under Section 279 IPC. The punishment awarded in this matter had been rather on the lower side. [Para 17] [609-C-D]
Alister Anthony Pareira v. State of Maharashtra (2012) 2 SCC 648 : [2012] 1 SCR 145; State of M.P. v. Ghansyam Singh (2003) 8 SCC 13 : [2003] 3 Suppl. SCR 618; Dalbir Singh v. State of Haryana (2000) 5 SCC 82 : [2000] 3 SCR 1000; State of Karnataka v. Muralidhar (2009) 4 SCC 463 : [2009] 4 SCR 400 – relied on.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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