A Kerala bus driver who blamed his “deformed left wrist” for an accident which killed five passengers and injured 63 others won a partial reprieve in the Supreme Court.
A Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, in a recent order, reduced the prison term of the man from five years to one. The court cancelled the five-year prison sentence of the driver’s brother, who happened to be the owner of the bus and ordered him to pay ₹ 7.5 lakh to be disbursed among the families of those who died in the mishap over 11 years ago.
The two brothers, represented by advocate Sriram Parakkat, had approached the court after the Kerala High Court confirmed the trial court judgment of five years’ rigorous imprisonment for the duo.
The trial court had found that the brother who drove the bus did not have a valid licence. It had concluded that the accused knew that putting such a man in the driver’s seat may lead to an accident.
The High Court agreed that the punishment would act as a deterrent for speeding drivers, and did not find the punishment disproportionate.
In its order, the court said the accident may have been caused by rash driving or by some other reason. It was wrong to say the mishap was caused solely due to the deformity of the driver’s left wrist. Be as it may, the Bench said the event led to a lot of people suffering. However, at the same time, the court found that there was no common intention on the part of the brothers to cause the deaths. The Bench found the punishment disproportionate.
“It was not proper to invoke Section 304-II read with Section 34 of the IPC inasmuch as there was no common intention to cause the death of the passengers by causing a road traffic accident. Therefore, to that extent, there has been non-application of mind by the trial court and the same being affirmed by the High Court is not just and proper,” the court reasoned.
It noted that the brother who owned the bus did not have any role in causing the accident.