The Additional District and Sessions Court VII here on Tuesday found a driver and a conductor of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) guilty in a case in which their bus mowed down a father and a son near Pattoor eleven years ago.
Thiruvananthapuram Additional District and Sessions Judge VII Prasum Mohan sentenced the driver Sudhakaran A., 58, of Vilappil to simple imprisonment for four years and imposed a fine of ₹4 lakh after finding him guilty under Section 304(ii) (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Failure to pay the fine will result in default imprisonment for one year. He was also sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment till the rising of the court and to pay a fine of ₹500 under Section 187 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The second accused, Prasanthan, 46, of Vilavoorkal, who was the conductor in the particular bus, was sentenced to undergo a simple imprisonment till the rising of the court and to pay a fine of ₹10,000 after being found guilty under Section 202 (intentional omission to give information regarding offence by a person who is legally bound to inform) of the IPC.
According to additional public prosecutor K.L. Hareesh Kumar, the incident took place on October 30, 2012 when Patrick, 45, of Kochuveli and his son Sreejith, 20, were travelling on a motorcycle from Pattoor towards the General Hospital.
The KSRTC Rajadhani bus that was driven by Sudhakaran knocked the two-wheeler down during an attempt to overtake on the left side. Both of them fell under the bus and were run over by its rear tyre before succumbing to their injuries. The driver and the conductor, who informed neither the police nor their senior officials in the KSRTC about the accident, also drove the bus through water-logged areas to deliberately wash away the blood stains on the bus tyres in a bid to destroy evidence.
Sreejith’s twin brother Sreeju, who followed the former’s motorcycle on another with Patrick’s brother Vincent, was the prime eyewitness in the case. Both Sreeju and his mother will be entitled to receive a sum of ₹2 lakh each as compensation.
The court also disqualified Sudhakaran from holding any driving license for a period of three years. The case had been registered by the Thiruvananthapuram City traffic police station.
