The Karnataka High Court last month quashed an attempt to murder case filed against an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer by a call centre employee following a road rage incident in Bengaluru in April, after they withdrew the complaints against each other.
The order was passed on August 29 by Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum and was recently made publicly available.
On April 21 this year, Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose and a bike-borne call centre worker, Vikas Kumar, were involved in an altercation on Old Madras Road in Bengaluru after a minor traffic accident.
Bose’s wife, Squadron Leader Madhumita Dutta, had filed a complaint against Kumar under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to causing hurt. Kumar, in turn, filed a complaint against Bose for attempted murder.
Kumar filed a counter-complaint of assault and attempt to murder against the IAF officer.
After the incident, Wing Commander Bose claimed on social media that he was attacked for not speaking in the Kannada language. Pro-Kannada groups came out in support of the call centre employee, and demanded the arrest of the IAF officer after CCTV footage showed he was not assaulted.
In the petitions before the court by Wing Commander Bose and Kumar to quash the cases, Kumar stated that the matter was only a verbal altercation. Kumar also said he did not sustain any physical injury, and had no objection to the proceedings from his complaint being quashed.
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On her part, Squadron Leader Dutta also stated that the matter, which was a verbal road rage incident, had been amicably resolved.
“On consideration of the affidavits filed by the parties in both petitions… Continuation of proceedings in such circumstances would serve no fruitful purpose and would amount to an abuse of the process of law,” the Karnataka High Court observed.
“This Court has also kept in mind the fact that one of the accused is a serving Air Force Officer, who would otherwise be compelled to face criminal proceedings for the aforesaid offences despite the matter being trivial and settled,” the court said.
The court quashed the criminal proceedings, while also warning both parties against such incidents in the future, and observing that they had withdrawn their allegations, and both stated there were no injuries.