A Delhi court has granted bail to the woman accused of driving the BMW car that killed a finance ministry official on September 14, saying that the evidence at this stage does not support the police’s claim of culpable homicide, Live Law reported on Tuesday.

Culpable homicide refers to an act committed with the intention of causing death or with the knowledge that the act is likely to cause death.

On September 14, Navjot Singh, a deputy secretary in the finance ministry’s economic affairs department, was killed when a BMW vehicle collided with the motorbike he was riding near the Delhi Cantonment metro station. His wife was injured.

On September 15, the police arrested Gaganpreet Kaur, who was allegedly driving the car.

Her husband, Parikshit Makkar, and their two children were also in the vehicle at the time of the accident.

According to the police, after the crash, Kaur and her husband took Singh and his wife to a private hospital in GTB Nagar, about 17 km away, instead of the closer Base Hospital.

The police had told The Indian Express at the time that the hospital owner was known to Kaur, as her parental home is in the same locality.

Both Kaur and her husband were also injured in the crash and were admitted to the same hospital. She was taken into custody after being discharged.

A case was registered at the Delhi Cantonment police station under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among others.

In its 19-page order, the court observed that security camera footage contradicted the police’s version of the accident.

Granting bail to Kaur, Judicial Magistrate First Class Ankit Garg of Patiala House Courts was quoted as saying by Live Law: “With the CCTV weakening the prosecution’s theory of culpable homicide anchored in delayed care, and revealing intervening paramedic dereliction, continued incarceration would be disproportionate at this stage.”

The police had alleged that Kaur’s car hit the motorbike from behind.

Kaur, however, had argued that she lost control of the vehicle, which flipped and struck the motorcycle before hitting a Delhi Transport Corporation bus.

The court said the footage supported her version, showing a loss of control culminating in a flip rather than a deliberate high-speed ramming, Live Law reported.

“This clarification weakens the foundation for imputing ‘knowledge’ of likely death at the stage of initial impact,” the legal news outlet quoted the judge as saying.

The order also criticised the conduct of the ambulance driver and paramedic, who were present at the spot but left without helping the injured.

“The ambulance was present just behind the crash,” Live Law quoted the order as saying. “It was available within two seconds, it was empty, it did not have any other assignment and it was admittedly going towards Base Hospital. But it still did not help the victim and almost fled away from the spot quickly.”

The court said that Singh was taken to hospital after a delay of nearly seven minutes because of the alleged ignorance of duty by the paramedics.

The judge added that there was no clear evidence that Singh was alive after the crash, as paramedics described him only as unconscious without checking his pulse or respiration.

“The court is mindful of the gravity, a death has occurred and public concern in fatal motor accidents is legitimate,” Live Law quoted the judge as saying. “Gravity, however, though important, is not the sole criterion.”

The court added: “The function of bail is not punitive but to secure the accused’s presence and ensure a fair investigation and trial.”

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