2,500 people take part in marathon to demand justice for victim of road accident

On Sunday morning, around 2,500 people, including friends and family members of Alok Gupta, who died on the city road due to alleged rash driving by juveniles, and

On Sunday morning, around 2,500 people, including friends and family members of Alok Gupta, who died on the city road due to alleged rash driving by juveniles, and activists organised the Gurugram International Marathon between 6am and 9am on Golf Course Road. The slogan of the marathon was — “Juvenile driving kills and justice for Alok Gupta.”

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People joined the event virtually from other cities, such as Kota, Lucknow, Noida, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The collision took place on August 23 around 6am, when Gupta was on his way to Noida on his Harley Davidson motorbike. A Ford Figo, in which two juveniles were allegedly travelling on the opposite side, rammed a divider and hit his motorcycle across the carriageway. Gupta succumbed to his injuries.

Mihika Wahi Gupta, Gupta’s wife, said that she has taken a stand to create awareness against underage driving. “Underage driving is wreaking havoc in our country. Accidents lead to broken families and, in many cases, the sole breadwinners of family being taken away,” she said.

Gaurav Pant, one of the participants, said, “Participants ran different distances supporting the cause. There were different categories, starting from five kilometres to 42 kilometres. I ran for the cause to make people more responsible. The fight will make sure that the culprits are behind bars.”

Ambika Chauhan Nair, another participant, said, “The athlete community is using the occasion to express anger against underage driving. The wrong cannot be undone but the guilty must face the consequences.”

The accident and the subsequent handling of the case by the police evoked widespread protests by the family and friends of the victim. On September 26, at least 400 people, including family members, friends, cyclists, carrying placards and banners, had taken out a solidarity march from DT Mega Mall to the crime spot near DLF Phase 2 Rapid Metro station, demanding justice and action against the alleged perpetrators. Similar protests were held in Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Nagpur, Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur.

At the time, the police had registered an FIR against the juvenile driver and owner of car, who is a friend of the driver’s father, under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 A (death by negligence) of the IPC.

The family of the deceased had demanded that the police should invoke more stringent sections against the accused. They had also demanded that the police make the parents of the juvenile driver and the juvenile co-passenger of the car parties in the case.

On October 5, the police had booked the driver under Section 304 Part-2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The section, which is non-bailable in nature, was added to the FIR after the police sought legal opinion in the case. Later, the police added sections 184 (driving dangerously) and 185 (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs) of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act against the juvenile driver and Section 199 A of the same act against the car owner. Both were held and released on bail, said the police.