Debate: 6 months jail for killing 7

New Delhi: Alister Pereira, the son of a Mumbai businessman who was charged with running his car over seven people sleeping on a Mumbai pavement in suburban Bandra last year, was held guilty for causing death not amounting to culpable homicide. He has been sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined Rs 5,00,000.

A local court found there was sufficient evidence to find 21-year-old Pereira guilty under sections 304 (A) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 337 (causing injury) of the Indian Penal Code.

The court, however, criticised the police for its investigation, which it said, “was done casually.”

But is our criminal justice system unable to deliver justice in hit-and-run cases? On CNN-IBN show Face the Nation conducted by Bhupendra Chaubey, a panel comprising criminal lawyer Majid Memon and civic activist Kshama Kulkarni discussed the issue.

Judging the judgement

When asked if she was satisfied with the decision given by the courts or would she have rather wanted Pereira to be booked under more stringent provisions, Kshama Kulkarni said, "Absolutely not. When seven people have died and eight people injured, to punish a person only for six months is wrong, I don't even have words to express what I am feeling now.”

She added, “Some of us were there within hours of the place where it happened and we saw the havoc that the car had caused. And it happened just 100 feet away from the Additional Police Commissioner's office. How could they not get enough witnesses? How could there be only one watchman who was the witness? I am very disappointed with the police and shocked with the judgement.”

In fact, the list of those who have gone either scot-free or have escaped with lighter punishments in such cases is growing at an alarming rate.

In Delhi, there was the infamous BMW case in which top lawyers proved in the court that actually there was no car involved. In Mumbai, Salman Khan in 2002 ran over pavement dwellers outside the American Express Bakery in Bandra. He was charged and booked but was later released on bail.

How police botched up the case
	The Khar police failed to submit crucial medical evidence gathered from testing his blood and urine samples.
	There were also contradictory reports on the amount of alcohol in his body.
	The photographs that had been submitted in court also lost their value, when the photographer who had taken them said that they were not the same pictures as the negatives that he had submitted.
	The Road Transport Officer could not identify the photos as he said that he was "not wearing his spectacles".

A shoddy investigation

Would it be a fair call to say that our police forces are not geared up to deal with cases of drunken driving where there is a loss of human life?

"Of late, there have been a large number of cases of hit-and-run and in most of the cases, rich boys who are powerful in terms of money and celebrity status are involved,” Majid Memon pointed out.

In fact, that’s the reason these cases have been making news and consequently, people are interested and involved. Even in Pereira's case, it has been disposed off in a very short span of time.

But then, the judge who gave the ruling on Friday has come down heavily against the police. Isn’t there a disturbing pattern in most high-profile cases related to drunken driving, in which the police always are accused of shoddy investigation?

"The police may come out with their own excuses that eye-witnesses were not there, but I share the sentiments of Kshamaji that more efforts should have been made to gather evidence," Memom said.

Meanwhile, Kshama Kulkarni added to this argument by saying, “There was a time when the Mumbai Police was supposed to be the best police force in the country, but I was shocked when the policeman came to the court and said that I could not recognise the photograph because I was not wearing my glasses!”

How stringent is the law?

When an individual takes the wheels in an inebriated state, he is anyways violating the law. If that illegal action leads to an accident and consequently loss of human lives, in the eyes of law, why is he not at the same position as a murderer?

In most cases, the police use their discretion and do not apply the more stringent section 304 A (II) relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable with 10 years of imprisonment.

The tough section was applied only in the hit-and-run case involving actor Salman Khan after a public outcry and a public interest litigation demanding severe punishment for the actor who was initially let off after paying a bail of Rs 950.

In 2002, the actor was accused of running over sleeping bakery employees in Bandra, killing one person – one of the most infamous accident cases involving celebrities.

However, actor Saif Ali Khan, who too was involved in a case of rash driving, is an exception because he took the injured boy to the hospital and also informed the police.

Following a spurt in hit-and-run cases in Mumbai, the state government had begun considering a proposal to make drunken driving a non-bailable offence. Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister RR Patil had mooted the proposal but no decision has been taken till now.

"We need to consider very seriously whether our laws need to be changed in this regard,” Memon said.

While Kulkarni concluded by saying, “The judgment in Pereira’s case only sends out wrong messages to the youth, who feel that they can get away with anything.”

Question of the day: Is our criminal justice system unable to deliver justice in hit-and-run cases?

54 per cent - Yes

46 per cent - No

SPEED THRILLS, BUT KILLS
	January 10, 1999: Six persons, including three policemen, were crushed to death by a former Navy chief's grandson in the incident that had occurred at Lodhi Road in the Capital.
	September 28, 2002: Actor Salman Khan drove his Land Cruiser over sleeping pavement dwellers outside a Bakery in Mumbai. One bakery worker died while three others suffered serious injuries.
	February 5, 2006: Neel Chatterjee, ex-Vice President, Standard Chartered Bank knocked down a 60-year-old watchman and sped away. The former banker is now free on a surety of a paltry sum of Rs 10,000.
	November 12, 2006: Alister Pereira lost control of his Toyota Corolla while returning from a party in Bandra and ran over seven people sleeping on a pavement near Carter Road Promenade. Eight others were injured in the incident.
	March 28, 2007: Three Doon School students allegedly involved in a hit-and-run case left a young teacher dead and another seriously injured in Dehradun.