Anothe₹ ₹ound ?

Things I never expected in Vadodara include uncivilized public behaviour. But the recent drink and drive case of Rakshit Chaurasiya is intriguing to me. he shouted "Another Round" , "Nikita" and "Om Namah Shivay" after killing and injuring innocents. Which is not unknown to us. It has become a very common scenario where a late-night street in a bustling city, a luxury car speeds past, a loud thud, a body on the ground. The driver? Gone. The headlines the next morning scream outrage, but within weeks, the case disappears into legal oblivion. It’s a script we’ve seen play out time and again, especially in recent years, where young, affluent men behind expensive wheels seem to treat traffic laws as mere suggestions.

But has it always been this way? Have hit-and-run cases always plagued India, or is this a new, ugly side-effect of rising wealth, urbanisation, and the lack of consequences? Let’s take a journey through the decades, from post-independence India’s empty streets to today’s AI-tracked highways, and figure out how we got here.

The 1950s: When Traffic Wasn’t the Problem, But the Law Was

In the 1950s, India had fewer than 300,000 vehicles nationwide. That’s right—fewer cars than some Indian cities have today. Most people were still using bullock carts, bicycles, and their own two feet to get around. Yet, even with this minimal traffic, hit-and-run cases happened. Why? Because there was practically no accountability.

The Motor Vehicles Act of 1939 was outdated and lacked clear laws on hit-and-run cases. If someone got caught, the most they faced was a ₹500 fine or a slap on the wrist under Section 304A of the IPC. In 1957, a Mumbai BEST bus driver ran over 12 pedestrians and simply walked away. The case led to a few protests, but in the end? No real punishment. The system didn’t take road accidents seriously yet.

The 1960s: The Era of Mob Justice

By the 1960s, vehicle ownership had increased, and so had road accidents. By 1969, India was reporting 45,000 accidents annually, with about 2,100 hit-and-run cases every year (NCRB, 1969). Here’s where things got interesting: people had lost faith in the police and courts, so they started taking justice into their own hands.

One of the most infamous cases happened in Kanpur, 1967, when a truck ran over 18 workers. The driver? He tried to escape but was caught by a furious crowd and beaten to death. This was becoming a pattern. In many parts of India, truck drivers—especially those driving at night—became the prime suspects in hit-and-run cases. Why? Many were unlicensed, overworked, and sometimes even intoxicated.

By 1969, a new amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act required drivers to report accidents within 24 hours, but guess what? Only 30% actually complied. The other 70%? They either ran away or bribed their way out of trouble.

The 1970s: Drunk Driving and Big Cities Get Deadlier

The 1970s brought rapid industrialisation, and with that came a boom in vehicle ownership—from a few lakhs to over 5.2 million registered vehicles by 1979. The result? More accidents, more hit-and-runs, and more reckless driving.

One of the first drunk driving hit-and-run cases to gain national attention happened in Delhi, 1978, when a truck driver ploughed into a crowd at Connaught Place. He was drunk, fled the scene, and wasn’t caught for weeks. When he finally stood trial, he got a 6-month sentence. The public was furious. This case led to Delhi’s first-ever "zero tolerance" drunk driving campaign.

Despite the rising number of accidents, there were no official blood alcohol limits in India at the time. You could be completely wasted behind the wheel, crash into a bus stop, and still argue your way out of it.

The 1980s: VIP Culture & The Sanjay Gandhi Incident

If the 1970s were about reckless truck drivers, the 1980s were about political and business elites getting away with murder—literally.

One of the biggest scandals of the decade involved Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1980, his car allegedly struck journalist Rajendra Sharma in Delhi. Sharma died, but guess what? The case disappeared. Witnesses changed their statements, the police dragged their feet, and soon, it was as if it never happened.

This was the decade when VIPs realised they could do whatever they wanted on the roads and get away with it. Meanwhile, for ordinary people, the system remained broken. The Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 finally introduced Section 161, which made it mandatory for victims' families to receive compensation. But between 1988 and 1990, only 12% of victims actually got their money (NHRC Report, 1992).

The 1990s: The BMW Era & Courtroom Dramas

If you had to pick a decade when luxury cars officially entered the hit-and-run game, the 1990s would be it.

The most infamous case? Sanjeev Nanda’s BMW hit-and-run in 1999. One night in Delhi, a BMW ran over six people, including three policemen. Nanda fled the scene, tried to escape to Pakistan, and was finally arrested weeks later.

His trial? A nine-year-long circus. Witnesses, including Sunil Kulkarni, the key eye-witness, turned hostile after alleged bribes. The forensic evidence was mishandled. Eventually, Nanda served just two years in jail (Outlook, 2008). Meanwhile, Delhi and Mumbai alone accounted for 35% of India's 20,000 annual hit-and-run cases by 1999, and two-wheelers caused 45% of hit-and-run cases in Chennai (MoRTH, 1999).

The 2000s: Bollywood, Bribes & Bailouts

Now we enter the era of celebrity hit-and-runs.

Salman Khan (2002): His Toyota Land Cruiser crushed five people sleeping on a footpath in Mumbai. He was accused of being drunk, but the case dragged on for over a decade. In 2015, he was acquitted, only to be convicted again in 2016. He spent just two days in jail.

Alistair Pereira (2006): His Toyota Corolla ran over 15 labourers, killing seven. He got six months in jail, but public outrage led the Supreme Court to increase it to three years.

By 2010, hit-and-run deaths had crossed 50,000+ annually, but rich offenders were getting bail within months.

The 2010s & 2020s: AI, FASTag, & Stricter Laws

The 2010s brought in technology, and with it, more evidence than ever before.

Uber Case (2018): A hit-and-run driver in Delhi was caught because Uber’s GPS logs placed him at the scene. He got a 10-year sentence (The Hindu, 2019).

FASTag & AI Cameras (2024): The Pune porche hit-and-run case saw the culprit caught in under 12 hours, thanks to AI-powered  cameras. but culprit was asked to an essay of 300 words as punishment!!

With the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (2023), hit-and-run now carries a 10-year jail term. Yet, despite all this, the class bias remains—72% of rich offenders get bail within three months (PUDR, 2021).

Will Anything Ever Change? or shall we wait for “another round"...

From the post-independence years to today’s AI-monitored highways, the story of hit-and-runs in India is one of wealth, privilege, legal loopholes, and public rage. The laws have gotten tougher, the tech has improved, but as long as powerful people know they can escape law, will the roads ever truly be safe?