March 25, 2023

Delhi: Ghastly Incident

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-01-03 10:29:20

About the Author

Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

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What happened on the streets of the national capital in the early hours of the New Year was scary. A car, loaded with five drunk men, hit a two-wheeler with two female riders. One of the riders was thrown off and escaped with minor injuries. The other was not so lucky. She was trapped by the car and was dragged for 12 kms. Obviously she died.

It is surprising that the men claimed that they could not feel that a body was trapped beneath the car and was being dragged. They claim that loud music was playing and they could not hear any noise. But when the car hit the scooty, obviously there would have been a thump and when the body was being dragged, the drive would have been bumpy. It is clear that they are lying and they hit the two-wheeler and were running away from the scene, wishing that the body will get extricated and no one will be wiser. But with CCTV cameras all over the place, the gory incident has been captured in detail.

After protests erupted, home minister Amit Shah has ordered a probe in the incident. Police, meanwhile, have slapped stringent IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the 5 occupants of the car all of whom have been arrested. But two witnesses claim that they alerted the police on seeing the body being dragged under the car but they did not pay heed. Police are waiting for the autopsy report to find out if the girl was sexually assaulted which does not seem to be a possibility given the visuals in the CCTV footage.

It is sad that people who are involved in an accident mostly try to flee from the scene. They do not realize that the punishment will be much greater if they run away than if they stop and help the victim. If the men had stopped the car when it collided with the two-wheeler, maybe the girl who died could have been saved and their punishment would have been much less. Now, they will face the full force of law and face punishment for culpable homicide rather than rash, negligent and drunken driving.