New Delhi, May 27 The Supreme Court on Wednesday exonerated a bus driver convicted of rash and negligent driving that led to the death of a woman in 2011 and said he acted as per the conductor's indicative instructions on when to drive and halt.
The court said the conductor indicates by whistling to the driver who was not expected to turn his head back and to see whether passengers had alighted. The woman died after falling from the vehicle while she was alighting the bus.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N V Anjaria said the woman might have slipped because her own movement could have been less than careful while she was getting out of the bus.
The complainant in the case claimed that the driver was driving rashly when he, his sister-in-law and mother were getting out of the bus.
The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal filed by the driver in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court which upheld a sentence of six months’ simple imprisonment given under Section 304A of the IPC.
The top court said the driver acted as per the conductor's indicative instructions and deserves to be exonerated from the charge of acting negligently.
"It is not possible to hold that the appellant-driver acted 'in a manner so rash or negligent'. He could not have been treated as guilty of some omission or doing something which may require him to adjudge as negligent, nor the appellant was guilty of any rash or negligent act satisfying the ingredients of Section 304A, IPC.
"It is difficult to conclude with definitiveness by pinpointing and attaching negligence on the part of the appellant that deceased-Shobha died on account of negligence in driving or because of rash or reckless driving by the appellant," the bench said.
The apex court said the conductor happens to be a person in-charge who regulates the movement of the bus.
"It is at the indication of the conductor by whistling or by ringing bell, as the case may be, that the driver of the bus is conveyed as to when the bus should be stopped to enable the passengers to alight at a particular station and when to start the bus again," the bench said.
The driver of the bus, who would otherwise be concentrating on the driving, would depend upon the indications, signals or whistling from the conductor to monitor and regulate the movement of the bus, the bench said.
"The application of the mind by the driver has to stay in driving of the bus..." it said, adding that this should be taken into consideration while deciding the "negligence" of the bus driver.
