HAMID MASIH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Hamid Masih petitioner is a bus driver in the Punjab Roadways. He has filed this revision petition against his conviction and sentence under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal code for causing death of Shrimati Har Charan Kaur by rash and negligent driving on the forenoon of 28th June, 1969, near the Bus Stand in Batala town. His appeal against the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial Magistrate has been dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Gurdaspur.

(2.) The petitioner had taken Punjab Roadways Bus No. PNQ-880 to Batala town on the forenoon in question. While taking a sharp turn, he pushed the deceased against an electric pole with the result that she was crushed between the bus and the pole. The bus had to be reversed in order to extricate the deceased. The deceased had been removed to a hospital and had died the same day but not before she had made the dying declaration Exhibit P.J. The case had been registered on the basis of this dying declaration which was to the effect that the deceased had come by bus to Batala from her village to see her husband who was posted as a police constable in the City. She had just got down from the bus when she was crushed in the manner stated above. Her statement was supported by Narinder Lal P.W. who has his shop on the corner of the roads where the accident had taken place. The statement of Jarnail Singh P.W., a co-villager of the deceased, may also appear natural. Persons from the same village would often meet at a stand where buses serving their village are parked. Considering the crowded locality and a sharp turn in the road at that point, the speed of the bus or the blowing of its horn may not appear very material. A bus driver entering a narrow passage in a crowded locality is supposed to take proper care and not run over or crush a passenger who was walking in the extreme one side of the passage near the electric pole. The evidence is that the electric pole had also been damaged in the accident. The rough site plan, Exhibit P.K., prepared by the police during the investigation speaks eloquently of the petitioner's carelessness. According to the dying declaration made by the deceased, the petitioner had expressed his rights and had sought apology. Under the circumstances, the petitioner may appear to have been rightly convicted for rash and negligent driving irrespective of the speed at which he was taking the bus to the fact that he had blown no horn.

(3.) I, however, find that the petitioner has already under gone imprisonment for more than three weeks in two short spells. He has also been mulcted in a substantial amount as fine. It would not be desirable to send him back to jail for another short term. The imprisonment already undergone by him with the fine imposed by the Courts below may appear to meet the ends of justice.