A sessions court has convicted a 51-year-old auto driver for assaulting a bus driver with a baton in a fit of rage in Andheri in 2009. Instead of sentencing him to a jail term, the court showed leniency considering his age and the fact that the incident took place in a fit of anger 12 years ago, to impose a fine of Rs. 10,000 on him.
The incident took place on August 27, 2009. Around 4.10 pm, the bus driver Rajesh Chavan was driving the BEST bus and had reached Sandesh Nagar on the way to Sakinaka. As per his complaint, he had stopped the bus at a stop when the auto had tried to overtake the bus and its driver Pravin Amnerkar had started abusing him. He then entered the bus with a baton taken from his auto and assaulted Chavan on the left hand and left side of his head. In the attack, he suffered a bleeding head injury. The conductor Chandrakant Dhumal and two bus passengers managed to apprehend the auto driver and Chavan lodged a complaint against him.
During the trial, Chavan was not traceable. The court considered the eye-witness account of the conductor and the testimony of the medical officer who had examined the injury Chavan had suffered. Additional Sessions Judge UM Padwad said the prosecution had succeeded to prove that the accused had assaulted the informant who was driving the bus at the time and had caused hurt to him. “Such an act was obviously an obstruction to a public servant who was discharging his duties,” the order stated.
Amnerkar’s advocate had sought leniency and said he was the only bread-earner in his family. He also told the court that the auto driver has no criminal antecedents. The court considered Amnerkar’s age, lack of antecedents and also the fact that the incident took place in a fit of anger, that it is a fit case to let the accused suffer a sentence of fine only. No purpose would be served by committing the accused to prison, it added. “At the same time, considering the audacity to assault a public transport bus driver, the fine also need not be meagre, but should be commensurate with his deeds,” the court stated, while ordering a fine of Rs. 10,000. In default of paying the fine, he would have to serve six months in prison.
