Kerala: On Thursday, the Kerala High Court overturned a Sessions Court order that had dropped culpable homicide charges against IAS officer Sreeram Venkitaraman in a road rage case that had resulted in the death of journalist K.M. Basheer in 2019.
The Sessions Court had discharged Venkitaraman under Sections 184 and 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which relate to dangerous driving and drunken driving, and Section 3(2) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property, but the High Court upheld the latter while setting aside the former.
The High Court cited the fact that driving vehicles after consuming alcohol can lead to temporary or partial impairment of cognitive faculties, including distance calculation, object distinction, speed control, and reaction time, as well as blurred vision, which makes road accidents a predictable consequence of drunken driving.
The court held that it was legally tenable to attribute knowledge to the driver of the vehicle that death could be a likely consequence of drunken driving. The court further stated that the absence of a medical report regarding the level of intoxication could not be a reason for discharge under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code if there are other materials to arrive at the conclusion that the accused was driving a vehicle after consuming alcohol. The court added that it could be prima facie assumed that the first accused was over-speeding and was driving a vehicle after consuming alcohol and had even caused destruction of evidence relating to the offence.
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However, the High Court also noted that the timely medical examination was not done in this case, and therefore, the offence under Section 185 could not be attracted. The court observed that there had been an apparent attempt on the part of Venkitartaman to wriggle out of a timely medical test. The court also found that there was not an iota of evidence to indicate that the second accused, Wafa Firoze, had intentionally aided, instigated, or conspired to commit the offence with the first accused. Providing facility for driving a vehicle without anything more cannot amount to abetment. It is not enough that the act on the part of the alleged abettor happens to facilitate the commission of a crime. Intentional aiding and therefore, acting complicity is the gist of the offence of abetment.
The incident happened in 2019 when Venkitaraman allegedly in an inebriated condition met with an accident leading to the death of Basheer, a journalist. Venkitaraman was accompanied by Firoze, and it was alleged that they were in an drunken state, which led to the accident. While Venkitaraman was suspended from service immediately following the incident, he was later reinstated as the District Collector of Alappuzha. It was pursuant to several protests that he was later removed from the post, and he is presently the General Manager of Supply Co.
The Additional Sessions Court I, Trivandrum, dropped the charges under Section 304, which provides punishment for culpable homicide, and Section 201, which penalizes causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information. However, the judge maintained that the other charges under Sections 304 A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash and negligent driving) of the IPC and Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act would stand.
