S.304A IPC | Punjab & Haryana High Court Reduces Sentence Of First Time Offender Who Caused Death By Rash & Negligent Driving

In the present case, the petitioner is a first-time offender and the occurrence is almost 11 years old, therefore, in view of the aforesaid judgments, I modify the sentence and reduce it to a period of 1 ½ years.

The bench comprising Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi was hearing a revision petition against the judgment of Sessions Judge vide which the appeal preferred by the petitioner against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate was dismissed.

The primary contention of the petitioner was that the prosecution could not establish that he was driving in a rash and negligent manner. He further contended that the entire case of the prosecution was based on the statements of PW1 and PW2 (eye-witnesses), who are the brother-in-law and sister of the deceased and being related to each other could not be believed and have falsely implicated him.

The Court observed that Petitioner's argument that the eye-witnesses could not be believed as they were close relatives of the deceased does not carry much weight. It further found no reason in the argument that the said eye witnesses would implicate the petitioner and exonerate the actual accused.

Keeping in view the aforesaid facts, it's stands proved without any doubt whatsoever that the death of the deceased was on account of the rash and negligent driving of the petitioner and he has been duly and properly identified by the witnesses.

Thus, the offence having been clearly established from the version of the eye-witnesses and the material on record, the court found no reason to interfere with the well-reasoned judgments of the Trial court and learned Lower Appellate Court thereby dismissing the instant revision petition.

With regard to the imposition of sentence, the court placed reliance on the Supreme Court's judgement in State of Punjab Versus Saurabh Bakshi, 2015(2) RCR (Criminal) 495, and this High Court's decision in Jaswant Singh Versus State of Punjab 2020(1) RCR (Criminal) 163 thereby coming to the conclusion that the petitioner being a first-time offender in the occurrence that took place almost 11 years ago deserves modification of his sentence to an extent of 1 ½ years.

Accordingly, the court dismissed the instant revision petition with modification in sentence but keeping the quantum of fine and sentence in default intact.

Case Title: Yusuf Versus State of Haryana

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (PH) 191