Accident near Salem - Cousin and driver beaten up. This happened on August 15th late night.
My cousin and wife had come to Bangalore from Cochin for a family function. They drove down (along with a hired driver) in their new Nissan Micra. Started on friday night from Cochin, reached BLR on saturday morning and planned to start back by 10AM on Sunday. Since they came to BLR first time after their marriage, they had to meet some of the friends and obviously, they were late to start. They heavy rains in the afternoon further delayed them and finally they were able to start only by 4-4.30 PM.
I tried my best to convince them to avoid night driving and start early morning the next day. But they both had to go to work the next day, so they just decided to start. I instructed them to call me once or twice in between (it's a habit which has been enforced by our parents right from much younger days when we used to go on bike trips). Around 10.00 PM i got a call from my SIL and thought that its just a casual call; but no, all i could hear is weeping!
A chill went down my spine the moment i heard that. I somehow managed to get her talking and all she could say was "car accident, people beating Sudhi (cousin) and driver". For one moment I was relieved greatly to know that nothing had happened to their lives. On asking, she said they were somewhere near Salem (Omallur i think) and their car was involved in an accident with an innova. Though there are no casualties / fatalities due to the accident, the people in the innova was beating them up. I asked her to disconnect the call and call up 100 and get the cops into the scene.
After about 2-3 mins i called back to check the situation. She said the 100 was not going through, but now there are more people at the scene and they have stopped the beating. I asked my wife to call her and keep talking to her, and called my cousins phone. He just picked up and said "nothing serious, I'll call you back" and disconnected. After sometime once my SIL came out of the shock, she told us what happened.
The innova was driving on the middle of the road, with not much space left on either side for a smooth overtake for any other vehicle. our driver flashed and the innova moved to the left slightly. taking this as consent to overtake, the driver started overtaking. once the car was halfway past the innova, they suddenly started moving towards the right. seeing this, the driver applied brakes, but the real wheel side of the innova hit the front wheel of the Micra, hard-braked, skidded and slammed into the median. Due to the impact, the right side rear wheel of the innova came off, and the right front tyre got punctured.
seeing this, my cousin pulled up the car to the road side. Even as they were parking, two people from the innova charged towards the driver, pulled him out and started beating him black and blue. Not a word spoken! When my brother tried to intervene, they turned towards him too. Within that time some locals gathered and some of the passing vehicles also stopped. But seeing that the situation is not good, all the vehicles just left the scene; no one offered any help.
Since the innova belonged to a local travels, the public support was with him and even the people gathered around much later were talking against my bro and driver (as if they were eye-witnesses). It was totally an unfriendly group of people who were just interested in beating them up rather than offering any help / settling the issue. All the while my SIL was sitting inside the car with all doors locked as instructed by my brother. I asked her to step out hoping that at least seeing that a lady is in the car, people will mellow down. But that dint work as the people were just plain aggressive adn the innova had no lady passengers. They wanted 10k to settle the issue. when my bro suggested that they call the police, the passengers in the innova picked up stones and threatened that before the police come, they will ensure that his car suffered equal or more amount of damage than their car.
Finally there was one guy who was slightly helpful (who also happened to be working with the same travels) who mediated and the issue was settled for 7000Rs. After reaching Cochin, my bro took the car to the service centre and they found that the rear shock absorber of the Micra is also broken and the front left wheel is mis-aligned. The front left fender, till the headlight has suffered lot of scratches and there is a big dent too. He's going for the insurance claim, but this being the first lot of Micra in cochin, they dont have the parts to be replaced and are waiting for them to be shipped from Chennai.
So all in all this trip proved to be a very costly affair for him for no fault of theirs, plus the agony they went through. My SIL has vowed not to travel by car anymore for any long distances. in fact they were supposed to come to BLR during the Navrathri holidays. Now she says, she'll walk from cochin if reqd, but never in a car and never ever in night.
the person who finally mediated the issue, accompanied my brother to an ATM to draw money. this is what the conversation they had on the way
Mr X: who was driving the car?
Bro : driver.
X : Did they beat you too or only the driver?
Bro: both of us.
X: its sad, but the people around here are like that. if there is an accident, they first beat up the people and talk later.
My bro or I am not sure of the truth in it, but his experience was that except this guy, none of the 25-30 peolpe who gathered were helpful / kind in nature. One of the reasons i am sharing this incident here is to find out what options do we have if at all any of us are unlucky to face a similar situation?
Have any of you've been through this kind of an experience? if yes, how did you came out of that with least amount of damage?
Does the highway police help?
What are the experiences of fellow-TBHPians who does a lot of highway travelling esp during night?
HVK sir - your advice / experience... |