Rash driving a menace that’s taking lives, says court, sends Mumbai man to jail – Times of India

MUMBAI: Observing that the act of rash or negligent driving could not be taken lightly as an increasing number of people were losing their lives to the menace, a magistrate court has convicted and sentenced a 29-year-old Colaba man to six months in jail for ramming his car into another vehicle at high speed at Kemp’s Corner in 2018, leaving two women grievously injured. One of the women had her right cheek ripped open.

The accident took place when the accused, Jiaan Kris Jamshyd Lam, who has a master’s degree in hospitality administration from Paris, was returning home to Colaba after completing his weekend shift as restaurant manager at Taj Land’s End, Bandra. The magistrate said there were barricades on either side of the road and a cycle rally was on. This, he said, meant the road was narrow on that day and driving a vehicle at around 100kmph certainly amounted to rash driving.
Leniency in rash driving case will send wrong signal: Court
Finding Bandra 5-star staffer Jiaan Kris Jamshyd Lam guilty, metropolitan magistrate Nadeem A Patel said, “When a road is narrow and it is a residential area, to drive a vehicle at around 100 kmph amounts to rash driving. The impact of the collision shows that damage was caused to both vehicles. Even the accused deposed that after the hit, his vehicle spun. It means the impact was very high due to which vehicle of the accused spun two times. ”
The two victims pf the accident were on their way to the airport from Colaba after having completed a training programme that was organised by their company.
Lam was found guilty under Indian Penal Code charges relating to driving rashly and negligently and also causing grievous hurt. His defence lawyer sought leniency on the grounds that he was a first-time offender. It was also submitted that he had just started his career. However, the magistrate said, “Considering the nature of injuries caused to victims, in my view unwarranted leniency will send wrong signal to society. ”
Among nine witnesseswere three women in the car—injured victims Tarang Rana and Dolly Datta, and their colleague Charu Anand who escaped unhurt. The other witnesses were the driver of their vehicle, Kamlakant Mandal, and doctors who treated them and cops.
The magistrate refuted the defence that the probe was biased against him, saying the defence argument that no independent witnesses had deposed was not sustainable. It was observed that the women had no reason to depose in favour of Mandal as he was a stranger to them before they sat in the vehicle he was driving. “Moreover, admittedly the incident occurred on a road. Naturally, it was noticed by many persons who gathered on the spot. However, nowadays no one wants to get involved in matters related to the police. Therefore, generally no person from passing vehicles stopped and stood as witness,” the magistrate said.