Click to play videoNew Delhi: As the accused in the high profile BMW hit-and-run case, Sanjeev Nanda got convicted on Tuesday, questions have been raised if Nanda’s conviction will serve as a precedent at some of the other hit-and-run cases.
Following are the other high profile hit-and-run cases:
- In April 2008, Uttar Pradesh MLA’s son, Kashif Abbas mowed down three people and injured nine in a case of drunken driving in Lucknow.
- In November 2006, 21-year-old Alistair Perreira drove over and killed seven labourers after a drinking binge.
- In February 2006, ex-vice president of Standard Chartered bank, Neel Chatterjee fatally knocked down a 60-year-old watchman and sped away.
- In March 2005, Bal Thackeray's personal assistant, Ravindra Mhatre killed two people after losing control of his vehicle.
- In September 2002, a drunken Salman Khan drove his Land Cruiser onto a pavement killing a bakery worker in Mumbai.
- And in January 1999, Sanjeev Nanda mowed down six people including two policemen on his way back from a party.
Nine years after that incident, the law has finally caught up with Nanda. And in the process has given hope to victims of other hit-and-run cases.
Father of a victim, Sumir Anand has welcomed the verdict,” I consider this to be a brilliant verdict. I lost my son to a hit-and-run just two months back. In western society they give life terms for such a crime, but here it’s just two years. So I would say this verdict is one of it’s kind.”
"When such a rich person can get convicted in a high profile case of its kind, why can't the others get justice?" questions President, Sufferers of Blueline Buses Welfare Association, Rajesh Verma.
However, there were others who remained sceptical like 75-year-old S N Mishra who lost his young daughter Alka to a Blueline bus accident in July 2007.
Watching the Nanda's verdict unfold on national television, Mishra wonders if justice would prevail across the board.
"If anyone acts irresponsibly and kills a person because of his carelessness, they should be convicted under sec 304 A," demands Mishra.
According to Alcohol Atlas, 40 per cent of road accidents in India are a result of drunken driving. But most cases are booked under rash and negligent driving, which is a bailable offence.
The Nanda's verdict may or may not affect other similar cases, but what it has done is forced the law to see such accidents in a more serious light.
It’s not the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which is historic. What will be a landmark judgement is the High Court upholding the lower courts sentence when the appeal comes before it.
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