Isha was young girl studying in grade eleven in a small town of north India. At around 1.30 pm she was returning from school. None of her friends lived in the same area so was walking alone. At that time of the day there are not many pedestrians nor much traffic.
She was humming a song and walking joyfully. Suddenly a fast speed car passed by.. she was pushed aside with a jolt and her bag flew away. She was fell down. She was in shock and pain. She started crying. The car was long gone and there was no one on the street who could have noted the car number.
Some shop keepers from nearby shops noticed her crying on road and came to help her. They called her parents.
Her parents took her to hospital. She had a major ligament tear in her ankle and many bruise marks but no fracture. From the hospital they went straight to the police station to lodge the complaint.
There was no one who had seen the car or noted the number. Isha could not even note even recall the colour or the make of the car which dashed her. Police tried to discourage them from lodging a complaint. The father too didn’t expect any result but still insisted on registering a complaint.
It took nearly a month for Isha to go back to school. She even missed her terminal exam.
They received a call from police station telling that they have traced the car and the driver with help of CCTV footage from a nearby shop and police had filed a case against the driver.
It was a long journey after that. Both Isha and her father visited court so many times. After three long years of waiting finally came the judgement.
The judgement had a shock for Isha and her father. The judgement said “ It is not proved beyond doubt that the car was at a higher than the speed limit for that road. However the driver is warned to be more careful in future. The court feels sorry for Isha but can not force the driver to pay any damage cause Isha was walking on the road. The spot at which the accident took place had a clear and well constructed footpath. It was her choice to leave the footpath and walk on roadside.”
The court further added that though sometimes the footpath are filled with garbage or pits, may be occupied by street vendors... yet parents and education system must teach everyone to walk on footpath as far as possible. The pedestrians walking on roadside cause an obstruction to the vehicles causing reduced speed, causing fuel and time wastage. It should not be forgotten that the footpath is for pedestrians and roads are for vehicles”
Dear readers, what do you think? It is natural for us to have sympathy for the girl Isha and we would not like the driver to be left without any punishment.. but was the judge right? In crowded cities walking on footpath may be difficult but that does not give you liberty to walk on footpath. Rather walking on roadside make is less difficult but more dangerous. Do you agree?
