Prosecution must establish negligence beyond reasonable doubt; mere speed does not equate to rashness or negligence in driving.

JUDGMENT :

VIKAS MAHAJAN, J.

1. The present revision petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 seeking setting aside of the judgment dated 12.09.2019 passed by the Court of ASJ, Special Judge – NDPS, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi.

2. Vide impugned judgment the Learned ASJ dismissed the appeal preferred by the petitioner herein against the judgment dated 05.02.2018, whereby the Learned Metropolitan Magistrate convicted the appellant for commission of offence under Section 279 /304A IPC and vide subsequent order dated 31.05.2018 sentenced the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months with fine of Rs. 1,000/- for the offence under Section 279 IPC, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 10 days. For the offence under Section 304A IPC, the petitioner was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and three months with a fine of Rs. 10,000/- and in default simple imprisonment for a period of 15 days.

3. This Court in the present petition vide order dated 20.09.2019 suspended the sentence of the petitioner subject to his furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs. 20,000/- with one surety in like amount to the satisfaction of the Trial Court.

4. The facts leading to filing of the present petition as borne out from the record are as under:

a. On 06.06.2004, information was received at P.S. Chanakyapuri, New Delhi that a man was lying at Malcha Marg stand in a blood stained condition and that he had met with an accident. A daily diary entry vide DD No. 18A was registered and S.I. C.L. Meena alongwith Ct. Suresh reached the spot of occurrence i.e. Sardar Patel Marg, Malcha Marg bus stand, where on inquiry it was found that the PCR had already taken the injured to the hospital.

b. At the hospital, the MLC of the injured was collected, and as per MLC the injured was declared to be brought dead. Thereafter, the IO again reached the spot of occurrence and it was learnt that the accused/petitioner was already apprehended by Beat Constable Surender Kumar. Beat Constable Surender Kumar disclosed that he was patrolling and about 08:20 PM, when he reached Sardar Patel Marg bus stand, he saw that one pedestrian/deceased was crossing the road for going towards bus stand. In the meanwhile, one Fiat car driven in a rash and negligent manner hit the pedestrian due to which he fell on the other side. Thereafter, the driver stopped the car after around 10 meters and then ran away after seeing the accident, but he followed the car. The driver/petitioner was apprehended with the help of Ct. Ompal at Panchsheel SP Marg red light.

c. Thereafter, investigation was undertaken and the said Fiat car was seized, the broken glass and the shoes of the deceased were seized from the spot, site plan was prepared, mechanical inspection and postmortem was conducted, and on completion of investigation chargesheet was filed.

d. The prosecution to establish the guilt of the petitioner examined 09 witnesses in total, the details of which are as follows:

5. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that