MANIYAR ILIYAZ Vs. P. AYYAPPAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Like any young father, the appellant lovingly readied his five-yearold son and left home at 9 am to drop him at the neighbourhood school. Who could have ever imagined that it would be the last walk with his son? As father and son were walking towards the school, a tanker came from behind and struck the boy, crushing his waist and lower body. He succumbed to the injuries.

(2.) Take it for granted, there was neither a footpath nor a pedestrian crossing.

(3.) Accidents like this continue to occur, perhaps they are inevitable till we restructure our rights regime as regards access to roads and recognise their correlative duties. Till then, we will continue to cope with these tragedies by routinely transforming them into FIRs and Motor Accidents Claims. We are not referring to road safety, for this Court is deeply concerned about it and is, in fact, monitoring the implementation of safety guidelines [S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India in W.P. (C) No. 295/2012; this Court also passed certain guidelines in In Re: Phalodi Accident, 2026 INSC 388 as well.]. The issue is something more fundamental, and it is in recognition of the simplest of the simple human activity- "Walking". While the right to walk is inextricably connected to life, our Constitution recognises and guarantees it as a fundamental right - "All citizens shall have the right...to move freely throughout the territory of India". [Article 19(1)(d)]