On Thursday, the High Court set aside the part of the order of the Sessions Court discharging Venkitaraman of culpable homicide charge taking note of the fact, that he didn’t do the medical test on time, which cannot be ignored.
“The contention that there has been an apparent attempt on the part of the first accused to wriggle out of a timely medical test cannot be wholly ignored. After being referred to the Medical College Hospital, the first accused could not have gone to a private hospital, contrary to the reference, unless he wanted to cause the disappearance of the evidence of the alleged offense,” the court noted.
Based on the various aspects of the case, the High Court set aside that portion of the Sessions Court order that had discharged Venkitaraman of the charges under Sections 304 and 201(causing the disappearance of evidence of the commission of the offense of IPC.
However, the court upheld the portion of the order that had discharged him for the offences punishable under Section 184, 185 (Drunk dangerously) of the Motor Vehicle Act (MV Act) and 3(1)(2) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (PDPP Act).
The Court discharged Venkitaraman from sections 184 and 185 of the MV Act as medical test was not conducted and there was no evidence to reveal the existence of alcohol content in the blood.
The Court also discharged him from the offense under section 3(2) of the PDPP Act as the same requires mischief in respect of public property as its main ingredient.
The revision petition filed by Firoz was allowed and she was discharged for the offense under section 188 of the MV Act on abetment since none of the materials revealed that she permitted Venkitaraman to drive the car.
Source: Barandbench
