Karachi’s Karsaz Road recently witnessed the untimely demise of two innocent individuals, crushed under the proverbial and literal wheels of unbridled entitlement.

An SUV-wielding driver, in a demonstration of utmost negligence, irresponsibility and abuse of privilege, changed several lives for the worse. The videos of the incident circulating on social media have been accompanied by an onslaught of concern and apprehension from the citizens of Pakistan regarding the legal implications and process of law that will ensue. Speculations of a possible acquittal being brokered by the seemingly affluent defendant through unlawful favours and monetary gratification are also in circulation.

This article aims to elucidate and analyze the legal framework governing acts of negligent and reckless driving under the relevant laws, supported by a historical examination of judicial approaches in analogous cases.

The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 1860 and the Fatal Accidents Act 1855 govern incidents of rash and negligent driving by laying down tests for establishing the criminality of the act by the perpetrator and the compensation for the aggrieved, respectively. Taking a person’s life through an act of rash or negligent driving is termed qatl-e-khata under Pakistan’s criminal laws. The scope of qatl-e-khata is limited to causing the death of a person either by a ‘mistake of act’ or ‘mistake of fact’ which could be characterized as murder by mistake without there being any intention to commit murder at all. However, in most cases, the potential absence of intention or mens rea does not exonerate the accused of all liability. An instructive case on this matter is Muhammad Yousaf vs. The State which offers a clear principle on extemporaneous murders:

“Where an accused had no mens rea and he did not know that his negligent driving was likely to cause death, but death was caused, he was still liable under Section 320, PPC.” (1988 PCrLJ 1800)

Judicial interpretations of Section 320 PPC create a distinction between ‘rashness’ and ‘negligence’.........

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