Ansh Gupta was crossing the road in Bandra West on Aug 30 when he was allegedly struck by an SUV driven by Megha Rawal
Mumbai: Police have dropped the culpable homicide charge against a 44-year-old entrepreneur accused of fatally running over an eight-year-old boy in Bandra with her car in Aug after finding no evidence that she was using her phone at the time. This allowed her to be granted bail by a Bandra magistrate’s court on Sept 23. The judge, however, made it clear that were culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 105 of BNS) to be invoked in the future, it should not be construed that bail had been granted for that section too. On Sept 23, the magistrate’s court allowed Rawal’s bail application and ordered her release on a personal bond and surety bond of Rs 50,000. It also permitted provisional cash bail of Rs 25,000 for one month from the date of the order.
The court noted that the prosecution said the offences in the chargesheet were bailable. “As the offences are bailable, the accused is entitled for bail,” said judicial magistrate first class R T Ingle. The vehicle rolled over the boy, according to eyewitnesses. “The very object of furnishing a copy of the chargesheet is to offer an opportunity to the first informant to say as to why sections are dropped and the directions in which the investigation is done,” said the order.
Relying on call data records and other evidence, police filed the chargesheet only for causing death by rash or negligent act and related offences under BNS and Motor Vehicles Act . Police had slapped culpable homicide on the basis of witnesses’ statements. Rawal and the surety were directed to submit verified copies of e-Aadhaar cards, address proof, mobile number and email ID. The court also directed Rawal not to change her residence without intimation to the police station concerned. The court also took note of a procedural lapse—police had not served a copy of the chargesheet to Ravindra (the first informant). It directed police to comply with this requirement under BNSS.
On Sept 7, a sessions court had rejected Rawal’s bail plea following strong opposition by the prosecution and the lawyer of the child’s father, Ravindra Gupta. It had held that considering such a situation, it was not possible to conclude at that stage that an offence under Section 105 of BNS was not applicable.
It had said the harsher charge of culpable homicide was inapplicable and the case should, instead, be treated as causing death by negligence. The court had held that when a person driving a vehicle on a busy road tries to use a phone, he/she “is inviting trouble for sure”. “When the accused drove the car and tried to use the cellphone, knowledge of the consequences of such an act can be attributed to her that by such driving, she could cause an accident which may result in the death of a person,” it had said.
Rawal’s defence had claimed that the crash occurred immediately after a blind turn and presented call logs indicating no active phone calls at the time of the accident.