Rash and Negligent Driving -- Assertion of High Speed -- Not sufficient by itself to establish rashness
(i) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.279, S.304A -- Rash and Negligent Driving -- Assertion of High Speed -- Not sufficient by itself to establish rashness -- A bare assertion that a vehicle was being driven at high speed does not by itself establish rashness or negligence. High speed and over speed are relative terms, and the prosecution must place material on record establishing what constitutes high speed in the facts of the case. Mere occurrence of a fatal accident does not ipso facto give rise to an inference of rashness or negligence. (ii) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.279, S.304A -- Rash and Negligent Driving -- Contradiction Between Eyewitness Account and Mechanical Inspection Report -- Undermines prosecution case -- Where the sole eyewitness's account of the manner of occurrence is contradicted by the mechanical inspection report showing damage on the opposite side of the vehicle from what the account suggests, and the site plan is prepared without scale or measurements, the prosecution case is rendered unreliable and cannot sustain a conviction.
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