Public told to follow road rules

When the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose commenced their sitting on Friday, advocate RY George Williams made a mention about footboard travel on MTC bus turning fatal for a Class 8 student at Tondiarpet on Thursday. Citing the suo motu plea initiated by the court based on photos in newspapers of children hanging from footboard and the subsequent direction seeking the state to consider operating special buses for students, the counsel sought to initiate contempt proceedings against the state. 

He noted that despite the court direction, nothing has been done and overcrowding in buses during peak hours remain order of the day with the school students forced to travel on footboards. 

Countering this, the government Pleader TN Rajagopalan submitted that as per newspaper reports the bus was not crowded when the mishap occurred, and that the boy’s death was a case of footboard travelling. 

To this, the Chief Justice citing the Tiruchy incident wherein a pregnant lady was killed after the bike in which she was riding pillion was kicked by an inspector said, though the incident is most unfortunate, the basis of it arises from the failure of the husband to adhere to a simple rule of wearing a helmet. Moreover, his failure to stop after disregarding a rule is another aspect which has turned into a tragedy, the CJ orally observed that people should bother to be self-disciplined and realise their responsibilities. Also, noting that even while arriving to the court on Friday she came across numerous people speeding on their bikes without helmets, the Chief Justice said there is no point blaming the police alone and the public should also realise their responsibility. 

The CJ, however, asked the advocate to file his contempt plea and that it would be taken up for hearing in due course.