Refusing to release convict Subhash Chand on probation or reducing his jail term and the fine of Rs 10,000, District Judge R K Gauba modified his sentence from rigorous to simple imprisonment, considering his ill health.
The court said Chand was the driver of a public transport vehicle and it was his duty to ensure the safety of passengers and other citizens.
"In my considered view, there is no scope for release of the appellant on probation. A young life came to an untimely end on account of rash driving on the part of Chand. A message has to be sent to the public at large that the motor vehicles cannot be used to wreck mayhem on public roads," the court said, taking him into custody to serve the sentence.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place in March 2000 when the 13-year-old victim and his father had boarded the bus in South East Delhi to go to Badarpur. As soon as they boarded the bus, driver Chand started the vehicle in a rash manner and it scraped into a stationery bus.
The impact was so high that the minor boy got hit and his head got severed from the torso, both of which fell out on the road, it said.
When the victim's father Vijay Kumar Yadav raised an alarm, Chand stopped the bus at a distance from the spot, but the child had died by that time. (More)