AIR 1972 SUPREME COURT 1150 ::1972 MadLJ(Cri) 611 ::(1972) 2 SCJ 449

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Gujarat)

Hon'ble Judge(s): J. M. Shelat, P. Jaganmohan Reddy, H. R. Khanna , JJJ

Penal Code (45 of 1860) , S.304A— Applicability - Act causing the death must be the causa causans. In a prosecution for an offence under Section 304-A, the mere fact that @page-SC1151 an accused contravenes certain rules or regulations in the doing of an act which causes death of another, does not establish that the death was the result of a rash or negligent act or that any such act was the proximate and efficient cause of the death. The act causing the deaths "must be the causa causans; it is not enough that it may have been the cause sine qua non". Case law discussed.(Para 8) Thus mere non-compliance with the provisions of the Drugs Rules as made under the Drugs Act by a chemist of a chemical company for giving a batch number to every lot of bottles containing preparation of glucose in normal saline did not by itself make the act of chemist causa causans of the death of persons who were injected with those preparations were it was not only the duty of the Chief Analyst to the test materials before they were issued to the injection department but also to test the solution in such a way as would trace the lead nitrate in the solution which resulted in the death of the persons. Hence, the negligence of the chemist in giving one batch number to several lots could not by itself be said to be the dire....