Mumbai: A city magistrate court has held a pedestrian at fault for not following road crossing rules and acquitted a 23-year-old biker in a case where the former had been hit by the biker in a busy road in Worli and sustained a fracture and other injuries. The court has said that he had not followed road-crossing rules.
The incident occurred on February 25, 2018, at 7.30am when Govind Galchar was returning home from a nearby bakery. He alleged that a rashly driven two-wheeler hit him, resulting in grievous injuries. He recognized the biker as one ‘Jain’ who lived in his residential complex. The biker took Galchar to the hospital. Later, Galchar registered a case at Worli police station and Jain was booked under Indian Penal Code section 279 (rash or negligent driving) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by endangering the life or safety of others).
Cross-examination points
Galchar had told court during his cross-examination by the accused Rohan Jain’s advocate, that the road was a busy one. He had also admitted when asked specific questions, that there was no space on the road for pedestrians to cross. Further to specific questions by Jain’s advocate, Galchar said he had seen the bike approaching but crossed the road expecting to be able to do so in time.
Metropolitan Magistrate SP Bhosale took note of these admissions in the testimony of the victim in the judgment and said that in the circumstances, it appears that the informant has himself admitted that he has not followed rules for pedestrians while crossing a road. The Dadar magistrate court further said there is insufficient evidence to hold that the vehicle was driven rashly or negligently leading to the mishap.
