HC asks Maha govt to pay costs to man who faced FIR after his motorbike hit dog
Mumbai (PTI): Cats and dogs may be treated as a child or family member by their owners, but they are not humans, and offences related to `endangering life of a person' can not be invoked when animals are victims, the Bombay High Court has said.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan slammed Mumbai Police for registering an FIR mindlessly against a Swiggy food delivery executive accused of hitting a dog while riding motorbike. Quashing the FIR, it also ordered the government to pay him costs.
While the judgement was delivered on December 20, the detailed order became available this week.
"No doubt, a dog/cat is treated as a child or family member by their owners, but basic biology tells us that they are not human beings. Sections 279 and 337 of the Indian Penal Code pertain to acts endangering human life, or likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person," the bench said.
Section 279 deals with rash driving, while 337 deals with `causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others.'
"Thus, legally speaking the said sections will have no application to the facts in hand, this essential ingredient necessary to constitute the offences, being amiss. The said sections do not recognize and make an offence any injury caused otherwise than to human being," the court added.
An FIR had been registered against Manas Godbole, the petitioner, after his motorbike allegedly hit a stray dog in Marine Drive area during lockdown in 2020. The petitioner, who was delivering a food order, himself was injured as the motorbike skidded.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of a woman who was feeding stray dogs.
"The application of these sections by the Marine Drive police clearly shows non-application of mind. How sections 279, 337, 429 of the Indian Penal Code could have been applied to the case in hand, even from a bare perusal of these sections, defies logic," it said.
"Considering that the police had lodged the said prosecution despite no offence having been disclosed, we deem it appropriate to direct the state government to pay costs of Rs 20,000 to the petitioner," the court said.
The amount shall be recovered from the salary of the police officers responsible for the lodging of the FIR and subsequent filing of the charge sheet, the court said.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
