The judgment emphasizes the importance of proving rash and negligent driving in cases involving motor vehicle accidents, highlighting the need for conclusive evidence to establish guilt.

SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J.

1. Crl. Rev. Pet. No. 813/2016 & Crl. M.A. No. 19624/2016 (for condonation of delay)

Petitioner State impugns judgment dated 07.06.2016, whereby, the Appellate Court has reversed the judgment dated 18.09.2014, whereby, the respondent was held guilty of the offence under Sections 279/377/304A IPC and Sections 3/181 Motor Vehicles Act.

2. Respondent was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 2 years for the offence under Section 304A and 6 months for the offence under Section 279 IPC and 3 months for the offence under Section 337 IPC and one month simple imprisonment for the offence under Section 3/181 Motor Vehicle Act and to pay compensation of Rs. 50,000/- to the legal heirs of the deceased.

3. The Trial Court was of the view that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and established that the accident between the bus being driven by the respondent and the Maruti car being driven by the brother of the deceased occurred on account of rash and negligent driving by the respondent.

4. The Appellate Court, on perusal inter-alia of the testimony of PW-5, the injured i.e. the brother of the deceased, who was driving the car, found that the testimony did not establish rash and negligent driving on the part of the respondent.

5. On 23.09.2003, the complainant was driving his Maruti car with his brother, the deceased, sitting beside him. The case of the prosecution is that when they reached near Prembadi Pul, a DTC bus being driven by the respondent came from the front side in a rash and negligent manner and with a fast speed hit against the front left side of the car. Both the brothers sustained injuries. The deceased succumbed to his injuries after nearly a month.

6. Since the case was not treated as an MLC case, there was no Post Mortem Report giving an opinion with regard to the cause of death. However subsequent report from AIIMS has been placed on record which states that the death could have been caused by the accident.

7. Learned APP for the State has referred to the statement of PW-5 as also the photographs of the Maruti car being driven by the complainant as also the site plan to contend that the Appellate Court has erred in returning a finding that the prosecution has failed to establish that the respondent was driving the bus in a rash and negligent manner.

8. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent submits that the material on record clearly establishes that the respondent was not driving the bus in a rash and negligent manner and the collision occurred on account of the negligence of the complainant, who had taken a sudden turn and come in front of the bus.

9. PW-5 in his testimony has deposed that he was driving the car with his brother sitting beside him. He has deposed that when he reached near Prembadi Pul, the offending bus came from the front side in a rash and negligent manner and with a fast speed hit against the front left side of the car.

10. Perusal of the photographs of the Maruti car, which form part of the Trial Court record, show that the impact has taken place on the left side of the Maruti car and there is damage on account of the collision to the front side of the car.

11. Perusal of the site plan exhibited as Ex.PW9/A shows that there is a divider with a break in the median where the accident has taken place. The mechanical inspection report of the DTC bus shows that the damage is to the front bumper fender, front grill and front right-side corner of the bus. When the site plan is examined along with the inspection report of the bus and the photographs, it shows that the collision took place not on the front but on the side of the Maruti car, which establishes that the two vehicles were nearly perpendicular to each other.

12. It is not a case of the prosecution that the bus had taken a turn rather the case of the defence was that the Maruti car, being driven by the brother of the deceased, had taken a sudden right turn in the median and c