- Man fined Rs 20,000 for rash driving and causing injury to girl in 2017 Mumbai accident
- Victim Nidhi Jethmalani was in a vegetative state after being hit at a zebra crossing by Poosaripadaiyachi
- Court said it was a "single lapse" on Poosaripadaiyachi's part
A man who rammed a 17-year-old girl in Mumbai has been fined Rs 20,000, about nine years after the accident left her in a vegetative state for months.
P Narayanasamy Poosaripadaiyachi, now 66, was driving a Toyota Innova of the then railway commissioner when he hit Nidhi Jethmalani at a zebra crossing near Churchgate on May 28, 2017. He was allegedly speeding at 70 kmph when he "dashed" Jethmalani at the red light.
Jethmalani, who was reportedly on her way to a college to seek admission in Class 12, sustained serious injuries to her head and waist and was rushed to a hospital by Poosaripadaiyachi and the commissioner in their car.
Poosaripadaiyachi, a resident of Chennai, was arrested on the charges of rash driving on the same day and released on bail hours later.
Jethmalani underwent right decompressive craniotomy and lax duraplasty and was discharged three months after the accident.
On Friday, a chief judicial magistrate court in Mumbai convicted Poosaripadaiyachi of negligent driving and told him to pay Jethmalani Rs 20,000 in compensation.
"The accused has stated that he is a resident of Chennai, he is attending each and every date of the matter by coming from Chennai, he retired from his service in the year 2020. Today, he is 66 year old. His financial condition is poor. He is surviving himself on the basis of pension, the incident was purely an accident and a misfortune," Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Supriya Vijaysinh Nikam said in her order.
"Considering the fact that the accused is a first offender, the incident occurred in the year 2017, more than eight years have passed, the accused has already faced the ordeal of trial and taking into consideration his family background and the fact that it was a single lapse on his part, the Court is inclined to take a lenient view. Imposing fine will be the appropriate sentence in present matter," she stated.
In 2021, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) had ordered that Jethmalani be awarded about Rs 70 lakh in compensation, along with a corpus fund of Rs 1.5 crore to cover her future medical treatment.
Hearing an appeal filed by her father in 2025, the Bombay High Court had drawn a parallel between Jethmalani and Aruna Shanbaug, who remained bedridden in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital since a brutal sexual assault in 1973. The court had told the Ministry of Railways to reconsider the final settlement claim of Rs 5 crore.
