HC takes up first road rage case

 In what is perhaps for the first time, a car driver who was abused, threatened, assaulted and thrown into a drain for inadvertently ramming another car, petitioned the Karnataka High Court seeking expeditious action against those who had attacked him.

In his petition, Rajesh Shetty said that he was driving from Bannerghatta to Bangalore at 5.15 p.m. on January 26 when his vehicle hit another car near Gottigere. Mr. Shetty said the driver of the other car applied brakes suddenly without signalling that he was either slowing down or stopping. Unable to stop immediately, Mr. Shetty’s vehicle hit the car, damaging its bumper.

Enraged by this, the driver of the car rushed out of his vehicle and abused him before summoning his friends over his cellphone. They arrived and pulled Mr. Shetty out of his car and assaulted him. They then threw him into a nearby drain.

Mr. Shetty went to the Bannerghatta police station the same evening and registered a complaint. The police, he said, promised action but did nothing. Subsequently, he wrote to the Home Department, the office of the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police, the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendents of Police of Bangalore Rural district seeking justice.

Mr. Shetty said he later came to know that the person who assaulted him was a member of Sakalavara Gram Panchayat. He urged the court to come to his aid and direct the police to take action against the persons who had assaulted him. The High Court has adjourned further hearing of the case.