He lost a daughter to accident, but still favours a humane law

The house still resounds with the memory of the chirpy, intelligent child who was fond of dancing. Tom and Jerry stickers are still pasted on the door and her photos are in the wall cabinet.

But despite losing his daughter to an errant bus driver, Narsing Jaiswal believes that Section 304 of IPC that amounted to a non-bailable offence, under which the drivers were being booked, should be changed.

“I cannot take out my frustration and anger on drivers and say that they should all be sent to jail. At the end of the day, the driver’s family, too, will be losing a member of his family, just like I have lost mine,” said Jaiswal.

The chief reason why he does not want bus drivers to be booked under a non-bailable section is that pedestrians too are often at fault.

“I used to drive a car as well and I know that pedestrians often cross the road when the signal is red for them and they do not even use the Zebra crossing. If they get hit, the drivers are not at fault,” he said.

While Jaiswal has been working to block off the pain, his wife Dolly has gone into depression.

But he still feels that the entire system needs overhauling and each case should be examined individually. That works even in cases of rash driving.

Citing an example, he said: “Every Tuesday I go to Kali temple at Thanthania and take the 3C/1. But since there are two alternate routes, if two buses meet at Wellington, there is a race. More than drivers, I blame the unions.”

If the government wants to implement a law they should ask the public as well as bus and taxi drivers what they want, and implement the law, he said.