Mumbai driver left 17-year-old in vegetative state. He’s let off with Rs 20,000 fine

May 16, 2026 Headlinesnews

4 min readMumbaiMay 16, 2026 07:53 PM IST

Nine years after a 17-year-old girl who was crossing the road at a zebra crossing on Marine Drive was knocked down by a speeding car, rendering her in a vegetative state, a magistrate court found the driver guilty of rash and negligent driving. The 66-year-old man, employed with a senior railway official, was let off with a fine of Rs 20,000. The court said that it was taking a lenient view calling it a “single lapse on his part”.

“Considering the fact that the accused is a first offender, the incident occurred in the year 2017, more than eight years have passed, the accused has already faced the ordeal of trial and taking into consideration his family background and the fact that it was a single lapse on his part, the Court is inclined to take a lenient view. Imposing fine will be the appropriate sentence in present matter,” Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Supriya Nikam said in the order, passed on Friday.

The court said that the fine amount of Rs 20,000 be paid to the victim as compensation. It said that if he defaulted on the fine, he would be sentenced to three months in jail.

Nidhi Jethmalani was crossing the road along with her friends on May 28, 2017, near Marine Plaza hotel. She was on her way to K C College, just down the road, to seek admission in Class 12, when the accused, P Narayanasamy, in an Innova collided with her. Nidhi suffered injuries to her head and waist. The driver was then accompanied by the then railway commissioner sitting in the passenger’s seat. Witnesses told court that Nidhi fell unconscious immediately due to the collision and was rushed to the hospital in the same car.

In 2021, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) had awarded Rs 69.92 lakh to her with interest and Rs 1.5 crore corpus, interest from which would be used for her future medical and other expenses. In 2025, while hearing an appeal filed by her father, the Bombay High Court had compared her condition to that of the late KEM Hospital nurse Aruna Shanbaug, who was in a persistent vegetative state for over 40 years. Noting her condition and the “tremendous expenditure”, the court had asked the railway minister to sympathetically consider the case as an “exceptional” one and decide on the final settlement claim of Rs 5 crore. The court was informed that this was not accepted and the Railway Ministry has been asked to reconsider.

Among the witnesses who deposed was Nidhi’s friend, who was accompanying her, another eyewitness and with a medical officer, who said that Nidhi sustained grievous injuries. Nidhi was discharged in September 2017, four months after the incident. Nidhi’s friend and the eyewitness passing by both deposed that Nidhi was crossing the road on the designated zebra crossing and the car was in a high speed.

The accused, now a resident of Chennai, denied his involvement in the accident. The court noted that he was driving a government vehicle and therefore there was no question of him being falsely implicated by the police. After the court found him guilty under charges for rash and negligent driving and causing grievous hurt, he sought leniency citing his age and poor financial condition. He also said that it was an unfortunate accident.

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“The impact of such an unfortunate accident was so horrendous that it has, as good as taken away her life rendering her in a persistent vegetative state. The photographs of this happy and promising girl and the present state in which she lies would bring loads of sorrow, unhappiness to anyone then what can be the suffering of Nidhi and the state of mind of the parents family members,” the high court had said.

Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstrates exceptional Expertise and Authority in covering the intricacies of the judicial and correctional systems. Reporting for The Indian Express, she is a highly Trustworthy source for in-depth coverage of courtroom proceedings and human rights issues.
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