Rash driving victim Sara Firdous (with mother Shamama at a private hospital last Friday) sees a truck hurtle towards her every time she opens her eyes. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Shamama Firdous keeps vigil beside daughter Sara’s hospital bed, clutching a prayer book and waiting for the one piece of news she has been desperate to hear for almost two weeks.

“It’s been 12 days since my daughter landed in ICU and the driver who did this to her is roaming free. I won’t be at peace until I hear he has been hauled to jail. There has to be some law somewhere to ensure no other mother suffers like I am doing,” Shamama, in her early forties, told Metro at a private city hospital.

Sara, 16, was riding pillion on her mother’s scooter on the night of August 24 when a speeding Tata 407 hit the two-wheeler from behind at Padmapukur on CIT Road, throwing her off the seat. Shamama, who also fell, saw her eldest child being dragged some distance before the truck sped away.

The Class XI student of Seventh Day Adventist Day School has since undergone three surgeries to repair the damage to her legs — she was wheeled into hospital with a pelvic fracture and flesh hanging from her thighs — but the mental trauma has taken its toll.

“The few times Sara has opened her eyes since the accident, she’s been hounded by the sight of the truck hurtling towards her at speed. Doctors say she will take a long time to come out of it,” said her mother.

Witnesses to the accident had noted down the registration number of the truck — WB 25D/9120 — before helping shift Sara to a nearby government hospital. Police arrested driver Harish Rai, 49, two days later but, like most speed demons behind the wheel, he was out on bail in 24 hours.

The investigating officer for the case had booked the driver under sections 279 (rash driving) and 338 (act causing grievous hurt) of the IPC, both bailable offences. “My colleague did what any other investigating officer would have done. That’s what the law in its present form allows. The only way to stop rash driving is a steep penalty under the Motor Vehicles Act,” said an officer at Beniapukur police station.

Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act invites a paltry penalty of Rs 400, which Lalbazar wants increased many times over to deter rogue drivers from stepping on the accelerator.

Such a proposal had been sent to the transport department as part of Lalbazar’s “Comprehensive Plan for Improving City Traffic” in 2006, but nothing came of it.

Former transport secretary Sumantra Choudhury said the erstwhile Left Front government did forward the proposal to Delhi, where it gathered dust till everyone forgot about it. “The proposal had to be routed through Delhi to bring an amendment to the relevant act. We sent the file sometime in 2009.”

Sources in the transport department said the file didn’t move beyond Writers’. Choudhury’s successor B.P. Gopalika declined comment on the fate of Lalbazar’s proposal.

A senior police officer said it was unfair to blame the cops for rogue drivers getting away with murder without strengthening the law. “A case of rash driving is usually transferred from the Motor Vehicles Act to the IPC if the victim has been hospitalised. That is meant to ensure arrest, but there is little we can do to stop the accused from getting bail.”

While Sana recuperates in hospital, maybe the law could also do with a little treatment.