Mumbai: The sessions court sentenced two men to two years in prison and fined them Rs 75,000 each for assaulting a BEST bus conductor in December 2012. One of the accused, an auto-rickshaw driver, had blocked the bus. When asked to move, he and his accomplice attacked the conductor.
Additional Sessions Judge Shashikant E Bangar ruled that Rs 50,000 from the recovered fines should be paid as compensation to the victim, Manohar Ramchand Khatri, and another Rs 50,000 to the BEST General Manager.
According to the prosecution, on December 15, 2012, Khatri was on duty on route 315, operating between Pratiksha Nagar and Santacruz railway station. Around 8.45am near Hanuman Mandir, Bandra East, accused rickshaw driver Shauhrab Ali Rustam Ali Hashmi obstructed the bus. When driver Chandrashekhar Sonsurkar asked him to move, Hashmi refused, saying, “This is my area, I will park wherever I want.”
Khatri intervened to defuse the situation, but Hashmi began verbally abusing him. Soon after, another accused Nawab Ali Mohammad Ali Hashmi joined in, grabbed Khatri’s uniform collar, and attacked him. He then struck Khatri with a wooden plank, injuring his forehead and right hand. The bus driver tried to intervene but was also assaulted.
The prosecution examined four witnesses – the conductor, driver, a panch witness, and an investigating officer. The accused claimed they were falsely implicated and denied being present at the scene. However, based on witness testimonies, the court found them guilty, stating, “They have shown no remorse or repentance for their misdeeds.”
