Doing Stunt With Vehicle Which Causes Death Amounts To Culpable Homicide, Not Rash & Negligent Driving: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has said that doing stunt with vehicle on a public road "depict a callous and unconcerned attiude towards the pedestrians" would not fall under rash and negligent driving, but prima facie amounts to culpable homicide.A pillion rider sitting on a bike allegedly died in an accident with a tractor, modified by fitting an extra turbo pump to increase the acceleration. The anticipatory bail was sought by the tractor driver, who argued that the victim and his friend were doing stunts on a bike and had friendly relations. While rejecting the argument that the case would not fall under "culpable homicide", The Court explained and said, " When someone does stunts on a public road, endangering public safety, and when the motor sport is not being conducted with the knowledge of the traffic control authorities and ample time has been given to them to take preventive steps. the acts of public stunt. it leads to death would fall in the definition of culpable homicide and if death is not caused then an attempt to cause culpable homicide and such acts would not fall only under section 106 BNS [Analogous to 304-A IPC 1860 ]because of the reguisite knowledge that such an act Is likely to result into death or cause death."It opined that, "there is no reason to believe they would be unaware of the consequences of motorsport with a modified vehicle on a public road, and such conduct would depict a callous and unconcerned attitude towards the pedestrians and another vehicle on the road where they were doing a motor stunt. On the face of it, such an act would not fall under rash and negligent driving, but primafacie amounts to culpable homicide."The court took noted of the video made on the alleged incident and stated that, "The video points towards its high speed on a public road. If a soft stand is taken towards such stunts. the roads. which are already unsafe. will become more unsafe for pedestrians and two-wheelers, which account for the maximum number of casualties for pedestrians and two-wheelers in road accidents."Lakhbir Singh filed the pre-arrest bail plea, who was accused of causing culpable homicide. It was alleged that while doing a stunt on tractor he lifted the front portion in air and in the mean time deceased, Gurjant Singh applied the brakes of motorcycle and the front portion of the tractor fell upon him.Gurjant Singh allegedly scummed to the serious injuries on way to hospital.After examining the submissions, the Court also watched the video clip and found that "it clearly shows that the petitioner and his accomplice were driving a tractor on a public road at a dangerously high speed, and it is clear that they were doing motor sports."Perusing the bail petition and documents, the Court said that it " primafacie points towards the petitioner's involvement and does not make out a case for anticipatory bail.""The impact of crime would also not justify anticipatory bail," it added.Title: Lakhbir Singh @ Lakha Versus State of PunjabPresent: Mr. Amardeep Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner.Mr. Sukhdev Singh, AAG, Punjab.Mr. Nikhil Ghai, Advocate, for the complainant.Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 421Click here to read/download the order

Doing Stunt With Vehicle Which Causes Death Amounts To Culpable Homicide, Not Rash & Negligent Driving: Punjab & Haryana High Court

Aiman J. Chishti

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