Mumbai court acquits taxi driver charged with obstructing police officer

In a recent development, the Mumbai Sessions Court acquitted a taxi driver who had been charged in 2015 with obstructing a traffic police officer from performing her duties. The incident occurred when the taxi driver was driving in a No Entry lane near the Mumbai Central Railway Station, and was stopped by a traffic cop named Sejal Malvankar, who asked to see his driving license.

According to reports, the taxi driver who was stopped by the traffic police officer responded to her in a rude manner, saying "jo ukhadne ka hai, wo ukhadlo" (do what you can), before quickly driving away from the scene.

The female traffic police officer then proceeded to file a case against the taxi driver, charging him with voluntarily causing harm and using criminal force to obstruct her from performing her duties. Using the information on his driving license, the accused was tracked down and arrested.

In a recent update, in a recent update in this regard, the Mumbai Sessions judge UM Padwad cleared the charges on the taxi driver. The judgement was quoted in a report by India Today, "Evidence has absolutely nothing to show that such act of the accused caused any obstruction to Malvankar while discharging her duties as a public servant, nor the same can be said to be sufficient to deter her from continuing with her duty.”

The judge observed that while it was the duty of the taxi driver to cooperate with the traffic police and produce his driving documents, his refusal to do so cannot be considered an offense under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with the use of criminal force to deter a public servant from performing their duty.

In addition, the judge questioned why the traffic police officer, Malvankar, did not take any action against the taxi driver for violating traffic rules by driving on a lane meant for other vehicles.