Click to play videoMumbai: Additional Sessions Judge at the Sewri Sessions Court in Mumbai, Ajit Mishra, who recently convicted Alistair Pereira in a hit-and-run case, resigned on Saturday.
Mishra had sentenced Pereira to six months of imprisonment and directed him to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation.
Pereira had crushed seven persons on Carter Road while driving under influence of alcohol on November 12, 2006, and was perceived to have got a lighter sentence because of the Mumbai Police’s lax investigation.
Mishra has quit less than a month after he sentenced Pereira though he did not give any reasons for his resignation.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday had come down hard on the police for investigation as well as the prosecution.
A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice SC Dharmadhikari said the prosecution was "insensitive during the investigation".
"I also do believe you had a chemical analysis report which clearly showed that Alistair Pereira had alcohol, which was much above the permissible limit - you never gave it to the prosecution," the bench said while taking the police to task.
Police Commissioner DN Jadhav was asked to personally look into the investigation and the appeal filed by the state government seeking a tougher sentence for Pereira.
The court also asked Advocate General Ravi Kadam to see why Pereira was charged under Section 304(ii) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
"If the charges in the first information report show that Pereira was booked under Section 304(a) (causing death due to rash and negligent driving), then why did the prosecution allow the Sessions Court to frame charges under Section 304(ii)? Why didn’t the state charge Pereira under Sections 279, 336, 337, 338 and 437 (all charges relating to causing injury)?" the court said.
"The case depended on the chemical analysis report, but the trial finished in just five days and the order was completed in two days," Kadam said.
When court asked why other people travelling with Pereira in his Toyota Corolla when the accident happened were not examined, Kadam replied: "The prosecutor did not show presence of mind."
Pereira's quick deposit of the fine, too, did not go unnoticed with the court wondering whether he knew in advance how much fine he had to pay.
There was no lawyer to represent Pereira and he himself replied the questions.
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