One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: In a school bus accident where a small child runs back into a bus that has already started moving, the driver's first duty is medical help and honest cooperation, not silence. Get the independent witness account and the CCTV footage preserved in writing within days, and if arrest is a genuine fear, anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS can be sought even before an FIR exists. Doing nothing is the worst of the available options.
On an afternoon in early March 2025, a school bus dropped its last few children at a village on the edge of Nagpur and began to roll forward. It had barely moved. A four-year-old boy who had already stepped off turned and ran back towards the rear wheels. The driver, Mahesh Chauhan, felt the bump before he understood what it was. He stopped inside a few feet. The child had a deep scalp wound. He was conscious, crying, and the school's car took him to a hospital on Kamptee Road within the half hour.
The parents were informed that same evening. Chauhan's family reached the hospital with money for the initial treatment, and by the next morning two relatives were already discussing how to "settle it quietly". That is where it began to slide. Nobody had written down what the man standing at the tea stall had seen. Nobody had asked the school to preserve the gate camera footage. And nobody had explained to Chauhan that a casual sentence spoken at a police station can follow him for years.
On the third day the family approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao. Three things were done at once: a written request to the school to preserve the gate CCTV footage, a properly recorded statement from the independent witness, and a protective application under Section 482 BNSS on the apprehension of arrest. No FIR was registered. Advocate Sudhir Rao's familiarity with motor-accident negligence matters decided the sequence in which these steps were taken, and that sequence is what kept the driver out of custody. The file today holds a stamped, dated copy of the CCTV preservation request and the hospital's payment receipt.
Key Facts of the Case
- The bus had already dropped the child and was moving very slowly when the child ran back towards it.
- The driver stopped immediately and the child remained responsive after the incident.
- An independent eyewitness on the road saw the child run towards the bus.
- The child suffered a serious scalp injury and was taken to a major hospital for treatment.
- The school and the driver's family cooperated with the parents and helped fund treatment.
- No FIR had been registered at the time advice was sought.
- The gate CCTV footage and the eyewitness account were the two pieces of evidence at risk of disappearing.
- The driver's family feared doing something that would later be used against him.
The Direct Legal Answer
Should the driver's family hire a lawyer before an FIR in a school bus accident?
Yes. The moment there is a serious injury to a child, treat it as a matter that will reach the police. A lawyer is not there to obstruct anything. He is there to make sure the driver's cooperation is documented, that his statement is not recorded carelessly, and that a bail application is ready before it is needed rather than after.
What should the family do right now?
Three things, in this order. Continue medical support and keep every receipt. Put the CCTV preservation request to the school in writing the same day. And get the independent witness account recorded in a form that will survive scrutiny.
Can the case be defended if there was no negligence?
Possibly, but only if the evidence exists. Rashness and negligence are questions of fact. A witness who saw the child run back, plus footage showing the bus moving slowly, is a genuine defence. Without them, the driver is left with his own word.
Advice in Such Cases
Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation to come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.
Do not wait for the FIR. A preservation letter written on day two is worth far more than an argument made on day ninety, because by then the footage has looped over itself and the eyewitness has moved on.
Keep cooperating openly with the family. Indian courts and investigators read cooperation, and its absence, quite plainly. Money for treatment, paid and receipted, is evidence of good faith.
Motor accident matters turn on fine evidentiary and procedural points, and advocates who handle them regularly tend to spot those points earlier than a general practitioner would. That difference often decides how quickly a matter is closed.
They can, and that is the part nobody explains at a hospital gate. An FIR being registered and a person being taken into custody are two separate events. The moment a complaint of a cognizable offence reaches a police station, the police are expected to register the case themselves under Section 173 BNSS and begin investigating. Some families believe that as long as no FIR number has been given, nothing is happening. Nothing could be further from the truth — the file may already be open, and the first thing an investigating officer does is decide whether the driver needs to be called in, or picked up.
That is why the driver's side acts early rather than waiting to be summoned.
Anticipatory Bail Under Section 482 BNSS — and When It Can Be Filed
Section 482 BNSS allows a person who apprehends arrest in a non-bailable offence to apply to the Sessions Court or the High Court for bail in anticipation. The offence has to be one not punishable with death or imprisonment for life; in a school bus accident involving a four-year-old, the outcome turns entirely on whether the child survives and how serious the injury is classified.
The question everyone asks is whether such an application can be filed before an FIR exists. Courts have entertained pre-arrest bail applications where the apprehension is genuine and based on something concrete — a threat, a complaint already made, a notice, a visit by the police, a call from the station. The Supreme Court's decision in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab settled long ago that the power is not to be read narrowly. What it does not permit is a speculative application filed because the applicant is nervous in the abstract. A court wants to know why the man believes he is about to be arrested.
In this case, the specific trigger was a verbal complaint made to the police by a relative on the second day, which had not yet been reduced to an FIR. That is enough for a court to take up the application. If the FIR does come later, the protection is not wasted — the court is told, and it is a matter of placing the fact on record.
Two things such an application cannot do. It cannot stop the investigation. And it cannot be used to avoid a legitimate custodial interrogation if the officer genuinely needs the driver for something like a reconstruction of the scene. If the driver refuses to join the investigation after getting protection, he invites cancellation of that very protection.
Where the police decide not to arrest, the BNSS also contains a provision requiring a notice of appearance instead of immediate arrest in a wide category of offences. Courts take a poor view of arrests made in disregard of it, though whether it applies depends on the offence and the officer's recorded reasons.
What the Driver Actually Has to Do After the Accident
Motor accident law in India places duties on a driver that have nothing to do with who was at fault. Section 134 of the Motor Vehicles Act requires the driver to secure medical attention for the injured person and to report the accident to the nearest police station or officer, and to give his particulars. Section 134A, added by the 2019 amendment, protects a person who renders emergency medical or non-medical care to a road accident victim from being compelled to reveal his identity or to incur any liability for doing so.
Failure to comply with the duties under Section 134 is separately punishable under the Motor Vehicles Act. Leaving the scene and saying nothing converts an accident into something worse.
Which provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita are likely to be invoked
- Section 106 BNS — causing death by a rash or negligent act. It becomes more serious where a driver leaves the scene without reporting the incident. This provision is not in play where the victim survives.
- Section 281 BNS — rash driving or riding on a public way.
- Sections 125 to 127 BNS — doing a rash or negligent act that endangers life or personal safety, and causing hurt or grievous hurt by such an act. Which of these applies depends on how the doctor classifies the injury, and on the medical record, not on how the wound looked at the roadside.
Two things decide whether this becomes a messy case or a manageable one. First, whether the injury is simple or grievous — that is a question for the treating doctor's certificate and the discharge summary, not for how the wound looked at the roadside. Second, what the driver did in the two hours after the accident — whether he got the child to hospital, informed the school, and gave his particulars. Both are already on record, one way or the other, whether or not anybody thought to collect them.
Who Pays for the Child's Treatment, and Whether the Driver Is Personally Liable
Compensation for a road accident injury is usually claimed before a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, against the driver, the owner and the insurer. Section 165 of that Act empowers the State to constitute these tribunals. In practice it is the insurer that pays an award, and the driver who cooperated and kept receipts sits in a very different position from one who disappeared.
Where the vehicle is insured — a school bus almost always is — the insurer is liable to satisfy the award, subject to defences it may raise about breach of policy conditions. Those arguments are made before the tribunal, not at the police station, and they do not belong in a conversation with the investigating officer.
Does the four-year-old running back count against him?
A child of four cannot be contributorily negligent in law. If anyone failed in supervision, the argument is against the adult who was supposed to be watching him, and a tribunal will apportion fault if the evidence supports it. That affects how much compensation is reduced. It does not decide whether the driver is prosecuted.
Why the First Seventy-Two Hours Decide Most of These Cases
School gate cameras overwrite themselves. Thirty days is a common retention cycle; sometimes it is less. Once the recording is gone, no argument recovers it. That is why the preservation request goes to the school in writing, on letterhead or by email, asking for the specific camera, the specific date and the specific time window, and asking that it not be deleted pending a request from the police.
If the school does not respond or claims the footage is gone, a request can be made to the investigating officer, and where necessary an application can be filed before the court for production of the recording or the device. Electronic records have their own admissibility requirement in the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: a certificate in the prescribed form, usually from the person in charge of the device, has to accompany the record when it is produced. Footage handed over without that certificate invites an objection at trial.
Record the witness early
The tea-stall witness was the only person who saw the child turn and run. He was willing to say so. Six weeks later, he may have shifted, or he may have been approached. His account should be reduced to writing and, where it matters, his statement can be recorded before a Magistrate so that it carries weight even if he is later unavailable or turns hostile.
What the driver should not do
- Do not give a written statement at the police station before speaking to a lawyer. The duty under Section 134 of the Motor Vehicles Act is to give particulars — name, address and vehicle details — and to secure medical help. That is not the same as giving a full account of the incident.
- Do not offer money in a way that is not recorded, and do not ask anyone to keep quiet. An attempt to suppress a complaint converts a negligence case into something far harder to defend.
- Do not skip a police summons. If a notice of appearance is issued, appear, with counsel. Non-appearance is read as evasion.
- Do not repair or repaint the vehicle, and do not service or alter it, until the investigation is over.
What Happens If the Police Have Not Registered Any FIR Yet
An FIR and a custody are two different events. Once information about a cognizable offence reaches a police station, the officer is expected to register the case under Section 173 BNSS. Many families believe that as long as no FIR number has been given out, nothing is happening. The file may already exist, and the officer's next decision is whether to call the driver in or bring him in.
Where an offence is punishable with less than seven years, Section 35 BNSS requires the police to issue a notice of appearance rather than arrest, unless the officer records reasons for immediate arrest. Courts look closely at arrests made in disregard of that requirement. Whether it applies to your facts depends on the offence and on the reasons the officer records.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the bus driver be arrested straight away in a school bus accident?
Not automatically. In a case of rash or negligent driving where the child survives, arrest is often not necessary, and a notice of appearance is the usual course. It becomes likely if the driver left the scene, did not report the accident, or if the injury is later classified as serious or the child's condition deteriorates. The driver's conduct in the first hours weighs heavily on this, which is exactly why the sequence of steps matters.
Can the matter be settled with the child's family and closed?
Money paid towards treatment, receipted, is evidence of good faith and is read favourably. It does not automatically close a police case, because the offence is against the State and not only against the family. Some offences can be compounded with the court's permission; others cannot. Where a young child is involved, presenting a payment as an attempt to buy silence will make things worse, not better.
Can anticipatory bail be filed before an FIR exists?
Yes, in the right circumstances. Section 482 BNSS allows a person who apprehends arrest in a non-bailable offence to apply to the Sessions Court or the High Court. The apprehension has to be concrete — a complaint already made, a threat, a police visit, a call from the station. A court will not act on general nervousness. If the FIR comes later, the protection is placed on record rather than wasted.
Does the driver have to join the investigation after getting protection?
He has to. Pre-arrest bail is not a shield against investigation. If the police genuinely need him for a scene reconstruction or for identification, refusing to appear invites cancellation of the very protection he obtained. What he does not have to do is answer questions in a manner that traps him; that is what counsel is for.
What documents should I keep from the beginning?
The hospital's registration slip and discharge summary, every treatment bill and payment receipt, the vehicle's insurance policy, the driving licence and the bus permit, the school's letter or email confirming the drop-off time, and a dated copy of any CCTV preservation request sent. Photographs of the spot and of the vehicle, taken early, are also useful.
Steps That Should Be Taken Immediately
Consult a lawyer before the police do. The consultation fee in such matters generally runs between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 50,000 depending on the facts and the forum. In this case the file was opened on the third day, and the order in which the three steps were taken — preservation letter, witness statement, protective application — is what kept the driver out of custody. That order was not luck. It comes from having handled motor accident negligence matters before.
Be honest with your own lawyer about what you did, including anything careless you have already said or signed. A lawyer who finds out late is a lawyer working with one hand tied.
On these facts there was a genuine defence: a child who ran back into a slowly moving bus, and a driver who stopped within feet and arranged for treatment. That defence exists because two pieces of evidence were secured in time. If the footage had been overwritten and the witness had moved away, there would have been very little to argue, and I would have said so to the family plainly rather than promising an outcome.
What to Send, and Where
If you are in this situation, send a short note to the chamber with the following:
- A copy of the FIR, if one exists, or of any complaint, notice or summons received — along with its date.
- The hospital papers: registration slip, discharge summary and treatment bills.
- The date, time and place of the accident, and the vehicle and insurance details.
- Names and contact details of anyone who saw what happened.
- Any letter or email already sent to the school about the CCTV footage.
A two-line note on what happened is enough to begin. You can reach the chamber through the contact page or book a consultation. Papers received are treated as confidential.
Chamber
Advocate Sudhir Rao
Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86
Supreme Court of India, New Delhi – 110001
Phone: +91 97295 06771
Email: me@sudhirrao.com
Disclaimer: This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every case turns on its own facts, and the correct step depends on the injury, the evidence available and the stage of the investigation.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a criminal lawyer in Delhi — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.