Negligent driving: Man acquitted due to absence of eye-witness

A Delhi court has acquitted a bus driver of charges of killing a man by rash and negligent driving, on the grounds that there was no eye-witness to the incident.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sharad Gupta let off East Delhi resident Hari Lal, who was allegedly driving a bus in a negligent manner and hit a cyclist Satbir Singh, who died in the accident over a decade ago.
"It is settled law that in a rash and negligent driving there should be evidence as regards the rash driving by the driver of the offending vehicle. The driver cannot be presumed and assumed to be rash.

"In the present case, there is no such evidence on record and no eye-witness of the accident was cited or examined by the Investigating Agency," the court said.
According to prosecution, on January 9, 2004, the accused was driving the bus near Bhajanpura in East Delhi and had fatally hit Satbir.
The accused, however, had claimed innocence before the court and said he was not driving the offending vehicle at the time of accident.