Man in Karachi told to stand at traffic signal for 2 hours a week with ‘speed kills’ placard

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate in Karachi has handed down an unusual punishment to a man for hitting a cop with his motorcycle – standing at a traffic signal for two hours, once a week for a whole year holding a placard on speed awareness.

Muhammad Qasim was convicted of rashly riding a motorbike and injuring a police constable deployed for former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s VVIP movement on September 27, 2015.

The verdict, announced by District East Judicial Magistrate XXVIII Shaoib Elahi, read that the convict would hold a placard inscribed with the message: “Ahtiat kijye! Ghaflat aur laparwahi se gaari chalana jan lewa hai [Be careful! Driving negligently and carelessly can kill]” every Friday for two consecutive hours till October 11, 2018.

Traffic police launch awareness drive

The judge also specified that the placard’s size would be 24-inches wide and 48-inches in height.

The prosecution told the judge that Qasim, while pillion riding with his accomplice, Muhammad Islam, had hit Constable Zubair Ahmed near Tipu Sultan flyover on Shahrah-e-Faisal after he signalled them to stop so that Musharraf’s convoy could pass.

Five policemen testified against Qasim, telling the judge that the accused and his accomplice were riding against traffic from Baloch Colony Bridge towards the flyover when the convoy was passing.

When the motorcycle struck the constable, the riders also fell down and were immediately arrested by other policemen standing nearby.

The policeman, the prosecution said, suffered a fracture in his leg and was first shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and then to the Liaquat National Hospital.

The magistrate, in his judgement, cited an order by the Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa about community service by offenders.

He also directed Qasim to pay Rs50,000 to the policeman in three installments in three months.

The FIR (590/2015) of the accident was lodged under sections 337-G (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent driving), 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Ferozabad police station.

Islam was also booked by police but the court acquitted him, observing that he was not responsible for the accident.

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