The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Scientific investigation of motor accident cases stressed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Scientific investigation of motor accident cases stressed

Staff Reporter

Investigation of traffic accidents needs to be done professionally: M.N. Reddi

BANGALORE: With traffic management alone consuming a lot of their time, are the city traffic police conducting investigation of motor accidents in a routine way.

The answer seems to be yes, considering the experience of traffic policemen.

Several traffic police officers made this point at a workshop on `Investigation of road accidents' organised by the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police office here on Saturday.

"When there is an accident on a busy road, the first thing we do is to mark the place. Then, we move the vehicles involved (in the accident) to the side and make arrangements to clear the traffic jam. In such a situation, we find it hard to do tasks such as taking photographs of the accident spot and collect physical evidence," said a traffic inspector, who is posted on Hosur Road.

He was reacting to the statements made by the panellists, which included Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.N. Reddi, that the traffic police should stop "mechanical" investigation of cases of motor accidents and go in for scientific investigation.

"Investigation of traffic accidents needs to be done professionally, which the traffic police are lacking. More focus is given for regulating traffic than the investigation of the accident," Mr. Reddi said.

The problem expressed by the Hosur Road traffic inspector, Mr. Reddi said, was genuine. "But when you (police inspector) find that the accident is serious, nothing prevents you from stopping or diverting the traffic till you complete the investigation, including collecting splinters of vehicle parts and other physical evidence. This will help in giving justice to the victims of the accident," Mr. Reddi said.

Gadgets

He said investigation of accidents was a technical thing and different from investigating cases of theft and robbery. Mr. Reddi said the police should be equipped with modern gadgets which help in taking pictures of the scene of accident. They also should have a handbook that states the way investigation of accidents should be done. "All this can be provided in a form of a kit," Mr. Reddi said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Eshwar Prasad said many a time investigation was done without following the Rules of Road Regulations 1989, which clearly defined the way people should drive vehicles.

Strong case

"If the investigation is done following the regulations, it will help in building a strong case leading to conviction of the accused. But many police officers do not have knowledge of the regulations," he said.

Commissioner (Road Safety) S. Parashivamurthy said the traffic police usually mentioned "rash and negligent" driving as the cause of accident, without substantiating the rashness and negligent behaviour of the driver.

"Explanation of circumstances, accompanied with physical evidence, will help the courts to convict the person causing the accident," he said. He regretted that the rate of conviction in accident cases was very poor.

False cases

K.L. Manjunath, judge of the Karnataka High Court, said there had been a practice among the police to register false cases of accident helping some people to get compensation from the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunals.

The tribunals, believing the charge sheet filed by the police, had awarded compensation even in cases where claimants suffered injuries as a result of falling down from a tree.

Deputy Director of Prosecution S.V. Janardhan said the police should stop registering cases under Sections such as 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code in cases of "self accident."

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