Dhanas accident: Defence questions presence of hawkers on roadside
Defence counsel questioned whether the Chandigarh Police had verified if it was a permitted vending site for hawkers/vendors by the municipal corporation.
Appearing in court for Paramveer Singh Dhola, 19, the youth driving the Volkswagen Beetle that claimed the life of three and left four others injured in Dhanas on May 17, his defence counsel on Tuesday questioned the presence of hawkers on the roadside in Dhanas.
He questioned whether the police had verified if it was a permitted vending site for hawkers/vendors by the municipal corporation.
The case was listed in the court of judicial magistrate first class as Paramveer’s two-day remand ended on Tuesday. The Chandigarh Police sought three more days to question him, but they were granted remand of one more day only.
On May 17, the red Beetle (PB23-J-0001) had first rammed into a motorcycle before hitting six people present on the roadside near the Dhanas Community Centre.
The injured were rushed to PGIMER and GMSH-16, where Rajwanti, 52, and Mustafa Ansari, 23, died the same day, while Bimlesh, 50, succumbed to his injuries a day later. All three were residents of Dhanas. Four others sustained grievous injuries.
Paramveer was arrested three days later on May 20. He is facing a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). If proven, the charge is punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment of up to 10 years.
In court, police said the case was heinous in nature, and that the police had received the accused’s call detail record (CDR) and his custody was required to match the record with the route taken by him on the day of the accident.
Opposing more remand, defence counsel Terminder Singh questioned what did the police do during the two-day remand? “Whether police checked the fact that there was a blind curve where the accident occurred? Whether MC had given permission to the hawkers/ vendors to have their carts there? Why didn’t the police check the route in the two-day remand?”
“It’s the driver’s right to save himself if a speeding motorcyclist suddenly comes in front of him,” he argued.
On being questioned by the court about what they did during the two-day remand, police found themselves ill-prepared and took nearly 30 minutes to present a report, following which the court granted one-day remand. Paramveer will now be produced in court on May 24.
