“They drive like maniacs,” Justice Devan Ramachandran said orally of private bus drivers, as the Kerala High Court warned the Kochi Corporation of contempt proceedings over footpaths after the fatal Kakkanad private bus accident.
Kochi: After a 28-year-old woman was killed in a private bus accident at Kakkanad, the Kerala High Court on Friday, November 6, 2026, warned the Kochi Corporation that it could face contempt proceedings for failing to restore footpaths in the city, and pressed the police to account for reckless driving by private buses [CP Ajithkumar and Another v. State of Kerala and Others].
Justice Devan Ramachandran, sitting alone, heard the matter as part of the road safety case he has been monitoring. Kochi Deputy Commissioner of Police Arun K Pavithran appeared online. Everything reported below was said orally in court.
The driver, and what is still unknown
Told that the driver had eight earlier cases against him, including drug-related offences, the Judge said he was shocked. The DCP informed him that a preliminary medical examination had not pointed to alcohol consumption, and that samples had been collected with further results awaited.
The criminal case arising from the accident is still under investigation. The Court has expressed no view on the driver’s culpability, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“There is no footpath at all”
Having examined footage of the accident, Justice Ramachandran strongly criticised both the driving of private buses in the city and the state of pedestrian infrastructure:
Our roads don’t have footpaths. Whatever footpaths are there are encroached or parked upon by cars and vehicles. People are forced to walk on streets. The incident that we saw, there is no footpath at all.
What kind of driving is this? When you know that there is no footpath, you should anticipate people on the streets. There is no anticipation. They drive like maniacs.
On learning the age of the woman who died, the Judge remarked that “the most productive part of her life” had been taken away “for no reason”, and asked whether anyone had gone to apologise to her grieving family.
Cameras, complaint numbers and zebra crossings
On surveillance, the Judge asked: “We see all kinds of cameras on the streets. Are they all blind? What is happening?” The DCP replied that some cameras in the city were not working and that local bodies had been approached to install more.
He also recalled an earlier direction that every private bus must display a police complaint number so that citizens can report reckless driving, and noted that not a single bus was carrying it. Who was enforcing zebra crossings, he asked. If the police could not control the situation, he said, they should say so and the Court would think of something else, including response groups of citizens to watch the roads.
Addressing the DCP, Justice Ramachandran said:
Your job is to ensure safety, to ensure that every citizen comes home safe in the evenings, which you are not able to do now.
ALSO READ: Citizen’s Right to Walk on Demarcated Footpaths Is a Fundamental Right: Supreme Court
Buses, operators and the Smart ID plan
Private buses, the Judge stressed, form part of the public transport system, so those who run them must be under close surveillance. He told the DCP to bring every bus driver under the proposed Smart ID system with QR codes, and said the police and the Motor Vehicles Department must work together on road safety, irrespective of bus timings or commercial considerations.
These heavy vehicles cannot overtake. It is a fundamental thing that they cannot overtake. They cannot race with each other.
Every driver should be under proper surveillance and proper control. Operator should be made responsible. The vehicle and the operator must become responsible.
Why the hearing matters
The hearing moves the Court’s road safety monitoring from assurances to accountability. By warning the Kochi Corporation of contempt over footpaths, the Court has signalled that its earlier directions on pedestrian infrastructure are binding obligations, not suggestions, and that civic bodies can be held answerable for non-compliance.
The Court’s focus on non-functional cameras, unenforced complaint numbers on buses and the liability of operators reflects the wider principle that safe roads and walkable footpaths are part of the right to life under Article 21, and that the State and local bodies share responsibility for securing them.
Case Title: CP Ajithkumar and Another v. State of Kerala and Others
Bench: Justice Devan Ramachandran, Kerala High Court
Date of Hearing: November 6, 2026
Appearances: Kochi Deputy Commissioner of Police Arun K Pavithran appeared online