Man killed after being hit by G-B House vehicle

Victim was jaywalking instead of using the overhead bridge just meters away: police.

ISLAMABAD: In an incident of hit-and-run, a government vehicle hit a man on Islamabad Expressway near Shakrial on Sunday and sped away. The injured man died on his way to the hospital.

Police said the man was trying to cross the 5-laned highway just a meter away from an overhead bridge for pedestrians. He was hit by a car belonging to the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) House, police said.

The police did not reveal the identity of the victim, however. Investigation Officer Sub-Inspector Muhammad Awais did not respond despite repeated attempts to contact him to confirm the identity and residence of the victim.

Two weeks ago, a woman lost her life in a similar fashion while she came in the way of Naval Chief’s motorcade and was run over by one of the vehicles. It took her family seven days to trace her body.

Shehzad Town police refrained from registering an FIR against the driver of the Naval Police (NP) vehicle and the episode ended with the family of the victim getting Rs100,000 for an out of court settlement.

On Sunday, however, the man was identified the same day as his son turned up to claim his body, placed in the mortuary of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

Shehzad Town police said they impounded the vehicle, a Toyota Corolla (IDP 1545), while the driver managed to escape from the site of the incident. “We are looking for him,” said a police official at Shehzad Town Police Station. He added that no case was registered.

However, an administrator of G-B House, Muhammad Jamal, said the driver had been handed over to the police, a claim that police denied till the filing of this report.

“We are cooperating with the police. We are ready to pay compensation to the family as well,” said Jamal. However, he added that the incident was an accident and the driver did his best to save the man who was jaywalking instead of using the overhead bridge.

Another official at the GB House said there was a hole in the wind-shield where the man hit it. “The man (victim) just emerged from nowhere and fell onto the car,” he added, quoting the driver.

The body of the man was handed over to the family for burial after fulfilling the legal formalities. Police said it was not clear if the family would initiate a criminal action against the driver or would prefer to settle out of court.

In the Naval Chief’s case too, the police allowed time for both parties to settle the dispute out of court. The investigation officer in the case said the family did not contact him directly. He was informed by the Navy officials who got the woman’s husband to sign a settlement note against Rs100,000. He said that he did not want a criminal investigation against the driver of the NP vehicle involved in the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2012.