Mumbai: Ruling that driving on the wrong side of the road in a crowded area is a clear act of rashness and negligence, a sessions court upheld the two-year sentence of a now 60-year-old man for a 2009 road accident in Ghatkopar that killed two people and injured several others. The accused, Kailash Gaikwad, was driving a red Maruti van at high speed when he veered onto the wrong side of the road. He had challenged a 2018 magistrate court order that found him guilty of causing death by negligence. Additional sessions judge Kunal Dhanaji Jadhav dismissed the appeal. The judge noted that the manner of driving, rather than speed alone, was the deciding factor in determining criminal liability. Analyzing the spot panchnama, the judge observed that the site was a busy junction heavily populated by pedestrians. “At that place, driving a vehicle puts responsibility on the driver to be more careful and cautious and therefore driving in high speed at such places can be a reckless act or an act without any proper care and caution,” the judge said.
The incident occurred on Jan 9, 2009, near the fish market outside Ghatkopar railway station. The vehicle struck three vegetable vendors, Sunil Ratnaparkhi, Daya Kharvi, and Lalita Jadhav, and a pedestrian, Genubhau Bombale. The van eventually stopped after its front wheel crashed into a gutter. While Ratnaparkhi and Kharvi survived their injuries, Jadhav and Bombale died during treatment at Rajawadi Hospital. Gaikwad argued that witnesses failed to properly identify him and suggested the vendors contributed to the accident by hawking on the road. However, the court found the testimony of survivors and police officers to be credible. Jadhav noted that minor discrepancies in registration details were expected given that evidence was recorded more than six years after the event.Addressing the technical state of the vehicle, the court noted that an RTO report found no mechanical defects, meaning the accident resulted solely from human error. “The panchnama of the scene of incident and the map reveal that Maruti van was driven on the wrong side of the road… This clearly makes out a case of rash and negligence.”The judge found the defence that Gaikwad was not behind the wheel to be untenable, especially since he had previously sought custody of the impounded van. “In the absence of any evidence and explanation, it must be concluded that the accused was driving the Maruti van rashly and negligently on the date, time and place of incident,” said the judge.
