Latest news with #Canada-returned
India Today
4 days ago
- India Today
Why India is the land of hit-and-run deaths
Akshay Kumar Singh, all of 16 and training to be a national-level swimmer, was dancing to music at a baraat in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, on the night of May 5, 2009. All of a sudden, the band stopped playing. When Akshay's father, Rakesh Singh, went to find out what was behind the abrupt silence, he was told that his son and another person in the wedding procession had been crushed by a truck. The driver fled the scene despite knowing he had mowed down two face was smashed, and I identified him from the shirt he was wearing," recalls Singh of the tragedy that changed the family police filed an FIR, but that was the most they did. Singh, who worked as an engineer with a top energy PSU, refused to let the death of his son become just another figure of fatality in India's ever-increasing hit-and-run list. And thus began a father's lonely fight to find the killer of his son. While he succeeded, the system failed him. It wasn't even dark when legendary marathoner Fauja Singh was killed while crossing a road in his native village in Jalandhar, Punjab, on July 14, most hit-and-run cases are never investigated and families don't get closure, media attention to the 114-year-old marathoner's death forced the police to act, and the driver, a Canada-returned youth, was INDIA IS BECOMING A HIT AND RUN CAPITALData reveals that all the 117 deaths in road accidents in Jalandhar Rural, where Fauja Singh was killed, were hit-and-run cases. If that's shocking, here's another eye-opener. In Delhi, the national capital, 49% of all road accident fatalities are from hit-and-run not only sees the highest number of road accident deaths in the world, it also sees most people getting killed in hit-and-run cases, where drivers flee the spot without trying to help the 30,400 people have been killed in such accidents in India in 2022, the latest year for which National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data is available. The 2022 figure was a 17% increase from the previous year. India saw over 1.68 lakh road fatalities in a single year in 2022, according to government data. The number of traffic accident deaths in India shows a steady year-on-year rise from 2018 to 2022. A sharp dip in 2020 is due to Covid-19 lockdowns that reduced vehicular movement on roads. (Source: NCRB) From reckless drivers, pedestrians and bikers to faulty road design, lack of infrastructure to near-zero enforcement, experts have revealed the deadly cocktail that is turning India into a hit-and-run capital. The "SUV mentality", VIP culture and a corrupt system embolden people, they India, forensic investigation of road accidents is unheard of. No one tries to find out what really happened in that split second, and the driver, by default, is always the culprit. The attitude is to pin blame, and not to ascertain accountability after a thorough probe, and move towards reducing the loss of the case of accidents, the big is always to blame in there a pothole that made the driver swerve and hit a biker? Or was he drunk and speeding? Did a child, chasing a ball, run onto the road and get hit or did the driver lose control while trying to save stray cattle?There will be no answers. Because no one is even trying to find also emerges is that the police register accidents as hit-and-run to save themselves the trouble of investigating cases. And in the rare instances when they do chance upon the accused, money changes hands fast, and the dead are left crying for CORRUPT SYSTEM SHIELDS HIT-AND-RUN KILLERSRealising cops were least interested in finding out who killed his son, Rakesh Singh set out to find the killer driver on his first clue was that it was a truck overloaded with illegally mined material."For the next few days, I visited quarries in Uttarakhand, roadside dhabas where truckers had meals, travelled with truck drivers and visited weigh bridges to check the numbers of vehicles," Singh, now 66, tells India Today Digital. Between 2018 and 2022, hit-and-run cases consistently accounted for 17% to 19% of all road accident deaths in India, with a slight dip during the pandemic year 2020 and the lowest share in 2021. (Source: NCRB) Pursuing the case with dogged determination, Singh found the killer driver, who also happened to be the owner of the truck, and his residential address in just 15 days. He provided all the documentary evidence to the police."But he was out on bail, and the case was closed in 2012 after he died in hospital due to heavy consumption of alcohol," he I could single-handedly find the driver in 15 days, why can't the police, with their elaborate set-up, trace hit-and-run culprits," says Singh, who gave up his job and pursued legal studies to become an activist, fighting for road safety.A retired senior police officer who has overseen the management of traffic and investigations in Delhi told India Today Digital, requesting anonymity, that hit-and-run accident cases are called "dry mamla" in police parlance, because there is no money to be admits that police personnel do classify road accidents as hit-and-run to avoid further probing the cases."And when they trace the culprit, they dissuade the complainant or victim's family from going ahead with the case, to save the culprit and make money," reveals the retired senior police experts who India Today Digital spoke to mentioned near-zero law enforcement and the lack of fear of law as two of the key reasons why hit-and-run cases are going up in OF MOB VIOLENCE: WHAT MAKES DRIVERS FLEE ACCIDENT SPOTSRohit Baluja, an expert who has spent over two decades trying to make Indian roads safer and is now training law-enforcement officials in forensic investigations, lists reasons both psychological and systemic that make drivers flee after fear of the law, lack of awareness of the legal responsibility of drivers, fear of getting embroiled in legal procedures, careless attitude towards the general road user, VIP culture, as well as fear of getting lynched by local people make drivers flee from accident spots," Baluja tells India Today Digital. Fauja Singh, who was killed in a road accident in Punjab, began running marathons at the age of 89. (PTI Image) Baluja, President of the Chandigarh-based Institute of Road Traffic Education and Director of the College of Traffic Management, says other reasons like not possessing a proper driving licence, or being under-age, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, might make drivers flee the accident fear of getting attacked by locals or the crowd at the accident spot is real in India, where mob mentality prevails, and is one of the reasons drivers flee even if they wanted to help the victim."Drivers flee crowded places because of the fear of mob attack and violence. The unawareness of the legal aspects is what makes them flee uncrowded places after accidents," says Ritvik Chauhan, an NIT Trichy Assistant Professor, specialising in road safety and traffic engineering. "People are fairly unaware of the relatively new Good Samaritan law."Even Section 134 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which outlines the duty of drivers and others in charge of vehicles involved in accidents, mentions "mob fury".Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) makes a distinction between a person who causes death by a rash or negligent act and reports it and the one who "escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a magistrate soon after the incident".While the maximum jail term is 5 years for those who cause such fatal accidents and report them, the punishment extends to up to 10 years for drivers involved in hit-and-run Section of the BNS is in abeyance after protests by truckers. The earlier Indian Penal Code (IPC) didn't have any specific law to deal with hit-and-run suggest that if drivers involved in accidents are forced to leave the spot due to any danger, they should report to the nearest police station. Over five years (2018-2022), hit-and-runs in India accounted for 18.2% of all road traffic deaths. (Source: NCRB) LACK OF TRAFFIC MONITORING INFRA AND POOR ROAD DESIGNHit-and-run incidents don't happen in a vacuum and are a result of multiple systemic failures, say experts."In India, jogging, cycling, walking or even crossing the road is risky. We cannot run in parks, there are no dedicated tracks, so we must pray and run/cycle so that we don't get hit," said popular ultra-runner Shajan Samuel on X, while paying tribute to Fauja road design and surface conditions can play a big role in reducing road accidents."In India, roads are designed to keep motorists, and not vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, in mind. Across the world there are roads with traffic signals. In India, we have a fascination for traffic-light-free stretches and overbridges," says the retired police are mainly three causes of road accidents. Driver errors, other road user errors and road infrastructure, explains NIT Trichy's without proper illumination, and signs and markings and those not aligned and laid according to geometric standards are a factor in accidents. Road surface conditions, for example, potholes, have been recorded to be behind scores of accidents every roads are a death jaywalkers with earpods and clueless about moving vehicles have become an additional risk factor, drivers with big cars and bigger egos add to the menace. The mindset of big cars hogging road space and driving in a risky way is a big retired police officer calls it the "Thar, Fortuner and Scorpio mindset". But he cautions against blaming "big as bad" always. "It takes two to tango," he recounts a personal incident to explain how pedestrians are also to blame."One of my friends was involved in a road accident in which a pedestrian got seriously injured. Later, it was found that he was heavily drunk and walking in the middle of a state highway. But the driver had to face legal hassles," he expert Baluja emphasises that proper forensic investigation could lead to the identification of drivers and vehicles involved in road accidents. Punishing those at fault would come as a natural deterrent. Speeding cars are increasingly linked to hit-and-run cases, where reckless driving meets disregard for accountability. (Image: Pexel) HIT-AND-RUN OR A MURDER IN GARB OF ACCIDENT?Rakesh Singh, who tracked down the driver who killed his son, also says that untrained police personnel are a big gap in the system."Police personnel are not trained to carry out forensic investigations. One thing that they get trained on the job is corruption," he not just about ascertaining the vehicle and driver involved in the accident but also the who set up India's first road forensic investigations institute, says fallen pieces of vehicles, like headlight glass, and chipped paint can be used to trace them. Tyre tread marks can help understand the driver's behaviour during an accident."Skid marks and tyre tread marks can help investigators determine whether the driver of the vehicle involved braked before impact and tried to take evasive action, maintained speed, or even sped up," he officers should look for nearby camera footage, car repair shops and hospitals to locate the person involved in the accident, say says investigators also need to determine whether a hit-and-run incident was actually an accident or if the driver had malicious is an interesting observation given the record that killers try to pass off murders as road May, the UP Police in Sambhal cracked a case where a gang murdered two people and projected them as hit-and-run deaths to claim their insurance CAN INDIA DO TO BRING DOWN HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENTSOther than proper investigation of hit-and-run cases scientifically, digital devices can be used to track culprits and make examples by punishing them."We have FASTags, which provide data on which vehicle has moved through which toll plaza, and now cameras are being installed on national highways. Increasing coverage area and monitoring points using cameras would help zero in on the suspects in case of accidents on highways," says assistant professor in road safety says cameras should be integrated with an Automated Numberplate Recognition System (ANRS) so that they can detect vehicles automatically and strict enforcement of High Security Registration Plates will allow the ANRS to spot the vehicles being will all work if there is the will to reduce road accidents and fatalities, including those in countries, including European nations, Japan and the UAE, have succeeded in reducing road accidents and deaths. There is no reason why India DeathsTotal Road Traffic DeathsIndia202230,486168,491United States2020~2,00038,824United Kingdom2020~4001,460Japan2022Not specified2,610South Korea2022Not specified3,623For India, which has stepped on the gas to grow, the huge number of injuries and deaths in road crashes have an economic toll too. "The socio-economic cost of road crashes is around 3.14% of the nation's GDP," said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, citing a 2023 study.A corrupt system and no value for human lives are why India has become a land of hit-and-runs. We cannot wait any more and see murderers get away without any punishment.A bereaved Rakesh Singh shouldn't have been forced to play detective and find out who mowed down his son. That's the job of law enforcement agencies, which get paid from taxpayer money. They have a duty and responsibility. So does the government.A grim reminder. In the 10 minutes that you spent reading this article, India has seen three fatalities in road accidents. A thorough probe and closure for those families is unlikely.- EndsTrending Reel
Time of India
7 days ago
- Time of India
Fauja Singh hit-and-run: NRI who was driving SUV ‘felt guilty'; held for leaving marathoner to die
Amritpal Singh Dhillon, a Canada-returned man, was arrested for fatally hitting 114-year-old marathoner Fauja Singh with a borrowed Fortuner on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway. Dhillon, who fled the scene, claimed he was unaware of the victim's identity until news reports surfaced. JALANDHAR: The driver who fatally struck iconic marathoner Fauja Singh on Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway Monday turned out to be a Canada-returned man who sped away after leaving the 114-year-old to die, Punjab police said on Wednesday. The suspect, Amritpal Singh Dhillon (26), was arrested from his home in Dasupur village, 20km from Jalandhar, on Tuesday. The vehicle, a borrowed white Fortuner bearing a Punjab registration number, was seized. According to Jalandhar Rural SSP H S Virk, Dhillon said he did not know it was Singh he had struck, and that he had fled the scene because he was scared. Police have charged him with culpable homicide and rash driving. The police FIR says the vehicle was speeding, and that Singh's life could have been saved had the driver taken him to hospital rather than fleeing. Singh's son, Harbinder, said the driver should have stopped to help his injured father. "We would not have pursued a complaint against him had my father survived. But he should have stopped," he said. Dhillon told police that Singh was crossing the highway and he could not stop in time as the vehicle was going fast, said Virk. tnn 'Realised what I had done when I found TV channels reporting Fauja Singh's death' Dhillon was returning home from Bhogpur, a 16km drive that passed via Beas Pind village. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Why seniors are rushing to get this Internet box – here's why! Techno Mag Learn More Undo by Taboola by Taboola As reported by TOI on Wednesday, the marathoner was walking towards his family dhaba across the road when he was struck. During questioning, Dhillon revealed that it was only at night, when TV channels started reporting Fauja Singh's death, that he realised who he had hit and run, said the SSP. According to police officers, Dhillon claimed he felt very guilty after that. However, he did not come forward to take responsibility for the death that was mourned by the world. It took meticulous detective work to track down the vehicle and the driver. At a press conference on Wednesday, SSP Virk said an eyewitness told police that the vehicle that hit Fauja Singh could have been an Innova or a Fortuner. "We recovered a damaged part of a headlight and when we checked with Toyota agencies, we were told that it could be an old Fortuner from the 2009, 2010, or 2011 models. Then, from CCTV footage, we zeroed in on a Fortuner and also found a damaged headlight from one particular CCTV. We found the registration number from CCTV footage. Investigations revealed that the vehicle had been sold a couple of times," he said. By Tuesday, police felt sure they had the right suspect. And the same night a police team arrived at Dhillon's doorstep. The SSP said Dhillon had gone to Canada on a tourist visa eight years ago and stayed back on getting a work permit. His sisters live there, too. He was in the construction business and has a work visa until 2027. He had come to India on June 23 on an emergency certificate as he had lost his passport. Three weeks into his homecoming, he is now behind bars, accused of killing a legend who seemed to outpace time. Dhillon was produced in a local court on Wednesday and remanded in jail.
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Time of India
‘Didn't know I hit Fauja Singh': Canada-returned man held for marathoner's hit-&-run death
Jalandhar: The driver who fatally struck iconic marathoner Fauja Singh on Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway on Monday afternoon turned out to be a Canada-returned man, who sped away after leaving the 114-year-old to die, Punjab police said on Wednesday. The suspect, 26-year-old Amritpal Singh Dhillon, was arrested from his home in Dasupur village near Kartarpur, around 20km from Jalandhar, on Tuesday night. The vehicle — a borrowed white Fortuner bearing a Punjab registration number — was seized. According to Jalandhar-rural SSP H S Virk, Dhillon said he did not know it was Fauja Singh he had struck, and that he fled the scene because he was scared. Police have charged him with culpable homicide and rash driving. The police FIR says the vehicle was speeding, and that Fauja Singh's life could have been saved had the driver taken him to hospital immediately rather than fleeing. Fauja Singh's son, Harbinder Singh, said the driver should have stopped to help his injured father. "We would not have pursued a complaint against him had my father survived. But he should have stopped," he said. Dhillon has told police that Fauja Singh was crossing the highway and he could not stop in time as the vehicle was going fast, said Virk. He was returning home from Bhogpur, a 16km drive that passed via Beas Pind village. As reported by TOI on Wednesday, the marathoner was walking towards his family dhaba across the road, when he was struck. During questioning, Dhillon revealed that it was only at night, when TV channels started reporting Fauja Singh's death, that he realised who he had hit and run, said the SSP. According to police officers, Dhillon claimed he felt very guilty after that. However, he did not come forward to take responsibility for the death that was mourned by the world. It took meticulous detective work to track down the vehicle and the driver. At a press conference on Wednesday, SSP Virk said an eyewitness told police that the vehicle that hit Fauja Singh could have been an Innova or a Fortuner. "We recovered a damaged part of a headlight and when we checked with Toyota agencies, we were told that it could be an old Fortuner from the 2009, 2010, or 2011 models. Then, from CCTV footage, we zeroed in on a Fortuner and also found a damaged headlight in one particular CCTV footage. We found the registration number from CCTV footage. Investigations revealed that the vehicle had been sold a couple of times," he said. By Tuesday, police felt sure they had the right suspect. And the same night, a police team landed up at Dhillon's doorstep. The SSP said Dhillon had gone to Canada on a tourist visa eight years ago and stayed back on getting a work permit. His sisters live there, too. He was in the construction business and has a work visa until 2027. He had come to India on June 23 on an emergency certificate as he lost his passport. Three weeks into his homecoming, he is now behind bars, accused of killing a legend who seemed to outpace time. Dhillon was produced in a local court on Wednesday and remanded in jail. MSID:: 122575510 413 |
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Time of India
Hit and run case: 'Didn't know I hit Fauja Singh', says driver held for his death
File photo: Fauja Singh JALANDHAR: The driver who fatally struck iconic marathoner Fauja Singh on Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway on Monday turned out to be a Canada-returned man who sped away after leaving the 114-year-old to die, Punjab police said on Wednesday. The suspect, Amritpal Singh Dhillon (26), was arrested from his home in Dasupur village, 20km from Jalandhar, on Tuesday. The vehicle, a borrowed white Fortuner bearing a Punjab registration number, was seized. According to Jalandhar Rural SSP H S Virk, Dhillon said he did not know it was Singh he had struck, and that he had fled the scene because he was scared. Police have charged him with culpable homicide and rash driving. The police FIR says the vehicle was speeding, and that Singh's life could have been saved had the driver taken him to the hospital rather than fleeing. Singh's son, Harbinder, said the driver should have stopped to help his injured father. "We would not have pursued a complaint against him had my father survived. But he should have stopped," he said. Dhillon told police that Singh was crossing the highway and he could not stop in time as the vehicle was going fast, said Virk. tnn 'Realised what I had done when I found TV channels reporting Fauja Singh's death' Dhillon was returning home from Bhogpur, a 16km drive that passed via Beas Pind village. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dukung Orang Terkasih Menghadapi Limfoma: Mulai Di Sini Limfoma Pelajari Undo As reported by TOI on Wednesday, the marathoner was walking towards his family dhaba across the road when he was struck. During questioning, Dhillon revealed that it was only at night, when TV channels started reporting Fauja Singh's death, that he realised who he had hit and run, said the SSP. According to police officers, Dhillon claimed he felt very guilty after that. However, he did not come forward to take responsibility for the death that was mourned by the world. It took meticulous detective work to track down the vehicle and the driver. At a press conference on Wednesday, SSP Virk said an eyewitness told police that the vehicle that hit Fauja Singh could have been an Innova or a Fortuner. "We recovered a damaged part of a headlight and when we checked with Toyota agencies, we were told that it could be an old Fortuner from the 2009, 2010, or 2011 models. Then, from CCTV footage, we zeroed in on a Fortuner and also found a damaged headlight from one particular CCTV. We found the registration number from CCTV footage. Investigations revealed that the vehicle had been sold a couple of times," he said. By Tuesday, police felt sure they had the right suspect. And the same night a police team arrived at Dhillon's doorstep. The SSP said Dhillon had gone to Canada on a tourist visa eight years ago and stayed back on getting a work permit. His sisters live there, too. He was in the construction business and has a work visa until 2027. He had come to India on June 23 on an emergency certificate as he had lost his passport. Three weeks into his homecoming, he is now behind bars, accused of killing a legend who seemed to outpace time. Dhillon was produced in a local court on Wednesday and remanded in jail.
