Pereira gets 3 yrs RI, spends night in jail

Pereira was ordered to surrender before the court and will have to spend the night in prison. His bail plea comes up for hearing on Friday.

The Pereira case led to a huge public outcry after the Sessions court had to let him off with a minor sentence of six months simple imprisonment saying the police investigations into the November 12, 2006 accident “had been very casual”. The prosecution could not even prove that Pereira was drunk while driving as the police did not submit original certificates of blood and urine sample examinations.

Days later, the High Court took suo motu notice of the case “to prevent miscarriage of justice, if any”. It issued notices to the state, Pereira and heirs of the seven deceased and also the injured.

On Thursday, reversing the order of the Sessions court, which sentenced him under Section 304 A (rash and negligent driving) but acquitted him under Section 304 II, a Division Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Ranjana Desai said, “The accused does not deserve our sympathy.”

Declining Pereira’s plea for release under the Probation of Offenders Act, the court told him that the punishment should act as a deterrent to all others as “fatal frequency of rash driving and speeding menace needs to be checked”.