A Hyderabad-based advocate has used the entire force of the law to go after an ‘abusive driver’ who damaged his car. Sandeep Hari shared a social media post on how he is giving “sleepless nights” to the driver who dented his car while attempting to overtake him aggressively on a narrow road.
In his post on the microblogging platform X, Hari revealed that the driver may end up spending ₹80,000 to 1 lakh as he fights civil and criminal cases that have been filed against him. This financial penalty may be insignificant compared to the hassle of dealing with court proceedings in India.
Here’s what happened
According to advocate Sandeep Hari, he was driving on a narrow, undivided road when another car attempted an “aggressive left-side overtake,” thereby pushing him towards oncoming traffic and risking his life.
The other driver’s rash driving damaged Hari’s car, causing a “dent on left side, deep scratch on door and loss of ORVM cover.” While Hari pulled over, the driver got abusive and fled the spot.
“While I stop on the side, he abuses and runs away,” the Hyderabad advocate recalled.
What the advocate did
Hari used every legal remedy available in his pursuit of justice. As a first step, he sent an email complaint.Then, within the next three days, he visited a police station to submit a signed complaint and dashcam footage in a pen drive. He also submitted a Section 63 BSA certificate affidavit for electronic evidence.
Police registered an FIR and called the driver, obtaining his phone number from the Regional Transport Authority. On receiving no response, the police visited his address and served him a notice to appear for investigation.
The driver, who remained unnamed in Hari’s account, reached the police station and spent hours producing documentation like his driving licence. Unfortunately for him, it turned out that he did not have insurance.
“He starts begging for mercy”
Hari said he was then called in to give a statement. The other driver initially tried to blame the accident on him – until he saw the dashcam footage.
“Once he sees it, starts begging for mercy. I SHOW NONE,” the advocate wrote on X.
He revealed that the damage to his car would take ₹27,000 to fix. “I filed a Motor Claim Petition in local court for Rs.40K for repairs + mental agony & loss of earnings for 3 days visiting PS + fuel etc,” he explained.
The driver who damaged his car is now left fighting a civil and a criminal case.
What will happen to him?
According to Hari, since he has no insurance, he will have to pay for the damage out of his own pocket. He will also have to shell out for an advocate to fight the civil and criminal cases. All in all, he could end up spending ₹1 lakh for 10 seconds of rash driving.
Besides this, the “abusive driver” will have to deal with “no passport without court permission.” Since the court cases are likely to drag for a couple of years, he will have to continue visiting Hyderabad for hearings if he moves out of the city.
“He saved 5 seconds by aggressive overtaking and risking my life,” Hari concluded.
Social media reactions
Given the plague of rash driving and road rage cases on Indian roads, it was unsurprising to see social media users coming out in support of the Hyderabad attorney.
“Good job and thank you for putting the fear of the law into the rash driver,” wrote one X user.
“You had patience, dashcam , good policemen … congratulations. Let this guy stew,” another added.