KSRTC driver’s conviction shouldn’t affect career: HC
Accused Told To Pay Penalty For Rash Driving
Vasantha.Kumar@timesgroup.com
30,01,2022
Bengaluru: Coming to the rescue of a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation driver, the high court said he need only pay the fine imposed by the trial court and the conviction shouldn’t affect his career or employment.
Disposing of a revision petition filed by H Devendrappa, Justice Sreenivas Harish Ku-mar said the sentence imposed is confined to the fines of Rs 1,000 for the offence under section 279 of IPC (rash driving on a public way) and Rs 500 under section 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) with default sentence as ruled by the trial court.
The judge said in the Rajbir Singh vs state of Haryana case (1985), the Supreme Court had said conviction of an accused should not affect his ser- vice. Also, in the GT Ravindra vs state of Karnataka case (2012), the high court had observed that conviction and sentence should not affect employment of the accused.
The case against Devendrappa was that on August 14, 2014, the KSRTC bus he was driving collided with a private bus at Charmadi Ghat. The accident was attributed to his rash driving.
Based on the evidence presented by passengers, eyewitnesses, and driver and cleaner of the private bus, a court in Belthangady convicted Devendrappa for offences under sections 279 and 337 on December 6, 2019. He was sentenced to two months’ simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1,000 and default sentence of 15 days’ imprisonment for offence under section 279, and two months’ simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 500 and default sentence of 15 days for offence under section 337.
An appeal against this order was dismissed by the 4th additional district and sessions judge, Dakshina Kannada, on August 4, 2021.
Devendrappa then filed a revision petition in the high court, seeking a lenient view in the matter, considering that the sentences could affect his employment/career.
No comments:
Post a Comment