[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by maverickxx2006

Today morning I was stuck due to this incident. Took turn from Dandekar bridge and reached my office via Pune station. Horrible incident, manaic killed 9 people.

I wonder why he wasn't shot down by police. In US even if the Police deem any action as threatening, they are authorized to use deadly force. Here, the guy was on rampage killing innocent lives, should have been shot. At least some lives could have been saved.

I was planning to start early by 7:30am, thank god I was delayed.

he was fired upon by the police.. however the bullets had no effect on the bus or its driver. Also one brave policeman risked his life and tried to board on to the bus... as reported on TV

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

You are quite right Mandar. I fail to understand why the drivers of such buses (ST, citybus like PMPML) etc don't take the ownership of the vehicle they drive (which is their livelihood). If it is your own vehicle would you ever leave it in the parking bay with the keys on it, never. You would be scared to do so for the simple fear of it being stolen. Since the drivers of these buses don't care a damn about their buses, they are least bothered if the key is left in the bus itself. Most of the times they don't even shut the engine. Such buses then become mobile killing machines in the hands of unscrupulous elements

Till few years ago, when I was a frequent traveler of S.T. buses in Maharashtra, there used to be no key. It used have a engine start/stop button. I don't recollect seeing a key or driver inserting any key to start a bus. Not sure if the design has changed lately.

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Good that the police are charging the insane guy for murder.

I dont see what good comes out of charging someone who is insane with anything? What's needed is some introspection by his superiors into what these drivers are going through, recognize their behavioral patterns, their work schedules and make sure they dont go nuts. Hanging an insane guy just increases the dead people count from 9 to 10.

[noopster]

^^ Insanity cannot be defined by the act per se. If I do something heinous, doesn't necessarily mean I am insane. If so all the dictators and mass murderers of the world would just have to be condoned for their acts.

From all accounts this guy behaved completely normally when he reported for work.He made an unusual request- that he be allowed to start work earlier than normal- which was denied. Maybe he felt rebuffed. Maybe he was high. Maybe something snapped inside him. It certainly doesn't justofy what he did.

@prasadee- I am reacting only to the first sentence of your post. The rest of it I totally agree with. The life of an any state-owned transport bus driver is pathetic, and we really need to introspect on whether we want to put innocent lives into the hands of people that are so stressed and work under such miserable conditions. But that is no consolation for those who lost their lives in this meaningless mayhem.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by prasadee

What's needed is some introspection by his superiors into what these drivers are going through, recognize their behavioral patterns, their work schedules and make sure they dont go nuts. Hanging an insane guy just increases the dead people count from 9 to 10.

Agree with you on the above part. But some action definitely needs to be taken against the driver.

No doubt innocent citizens and their families are affected by this ghastly act. But i also wonder what would the family of Santosh Mane be going through now. Were they aware of his mental condition?

[SDP]

Originally Posted by noopster

^^ Insanity cannot be defined by the act per se. If I do something heinous, doesn't necessarily mean I am insane. If so all the dictators and mass murderers of the world would just have to be condoned for their acts.

Insane, may be not, but mentally disturbed, quite likely. One news channel reported that the driver was undergoing mental treatment a few months back.
I see this as a systemic flaw. I do not want to discriminate against people with mental disorders. But there should have been a way by which his condition and treatment should have been communicated to his employer (may be by the Doctor/hospital themselves) so that the employer can take a informed decision about whether the person is fit for duty or not. In this particular case, if his supervisor would have been aware of his condition, after denying the early start of shift, he would have taken the possibility of 'snapping' into consideration and would have taken additional precautions to ensure that the driver does not do something irrational.

[lexusES350]

ST buses probably do not require a key to start/stop the engine as they used to have a simple push button that would start/stop an engine. At least thats how it used to be for many years when I used to regularly travel by MSRTC buses (Asiad/Regular).

I know Volvos (Shivneris) do have keys and can not be started without one. However, if you are traveler on Pune-Mumbai route, you will know that when Volvos stop at food mall on the MPE, driver usually leaves engine running with key in the bus so its not too hard for someone to steal MSRTC bus including Volvos.

PMT is just a disaster waiting to happen as many PMTs don't even have a starter button let alone keys. They are usually started by shorting two wires and left running all day long as due to various mechanical issues which may now allow frequent start/stop of the bus engines. Due to unavailability of secured parking facilities, buses are parked roadside near very spot where this tragedy occurred (Swargate, Sarasbaag, Sanas Ground etc.). If someone really wants they can probably steal one in broad daylight without much trouble even after what happened yesterday.

[W.A.G.7]

The stupid driver should be punished and punished hard. I felt really sad reading the papers today. For no mistake of theirs, 8 people lost their lives. This is the very same route that I take to office everyday for the last 6 years Dandekar bridge > Neelayam talkies > Sarasbaug signal > Mitramandal Chowk > Volga (Laxminarayan) chowk > City Pride > Sharada arcade Just yesterday, someone big shot from MSRTC was giving answers on the news. He seemed so rude and inconsiderate about the incident. C'mon, how insensitive can you be?? That too on live TV!!

Plus I also read in today's DNA, that under the garb of being mentally unsound, the ST driver can be let off the murder charge Strange are ways of Indian laws. He said someone had done black magic on him. From all this I feel he must be schizophrenic or mentally unsound from the beginning.

Coming to the point of the master key, the less said the better. One master key to start all the buses?!! This is as bad as it can get.

[callvvijay]

I don't think many would remember this. Way back in 2006-07, when I was working in Pune, a similar incident of bus-hijacking happened - again in Pune only.

A person had hijacked an empty bus from a depot in Pune and drove it all the way to AhmedNagar where he parked it and went off. No killings, by God's grace. Reading the news in the newspaper me and my roomies were having a hearty laugh. We were wondering as to how even public transport buses are not spared by the thieves.

But the current incident is all the more pathetic. I wonder how these depots are so irresponsible in securing their buses. A repeat of the same act from the same district and no action would be taken on the authorities.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by prasadee

I dont see what good comes out of charging someone who is insane with anything? What's needed is some introspection by his superiors into what these drivers are going through, recognize their behavioral patterns, their work schedules and make sure they dont go nuts. Hanging an insane guy just increases the dead people count from 9 to 10.

@Prasadee
I can understand what you are trying to say but try telling that logic to the families who have lost their dear ones for no fault of theirs. The first response you would get is that the maniac deserves nothing less than death.
We have seen so many high profile maniacs (read Salman Khan, Alaistar Perrea etc) going scot free by flashing a high value bail. Just throwing a paltry amount as compensation will not bring the dead back. Some kind of fear has to be instilled so that such thing does not happen again. The ST authorities doing their bit will be a temporary measure.

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Prasadee
I can understand what you are trying to say but try telling that logic to the families who have lost their dear ones for no fault of theirs. The first response you would get is that the maniac deserves nothing less than death.

Please dont get me wrong, I was responding to a sentence that said " charge the insane guy for murder". I am here going with the presumption of the member that this driver was insane. Much different from saying "charge a normal person who takes a conscious decision to drink, loose all senses, and speed to kill others". If the court decides to let the drunk guy go free and awards the insane guy with death, that is just shameful.

Again, I have no insights into this person's mental health. If he was indeed a normal person who planned to murder others in this way, he is much likely to do that again, and the society is better off without such people.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Prasadee
Some kind of fear has to be instilled so that such thing does not happen again. The ST authorities doing their bit will be a temporary measure.

How can we expect an insane person to understand such a judgement, remember it, and not commit a crime? I would be surprised to see a normal adult (not a person under influence of alcohol or money) not know the results of such action.

[silverado]

People stealing buses from depots - there were nearly 4-5 such incidents before this happened.St authorities are reacting now after such a major incident.

Its like constructing speed breakers only after accidents start happening at a particular place.

PMT and PMPML buses , seen quite a few of them which are not road worthy, which in itself is a dangerous thing.

Even for mumbai , BEST buses do not have keys, started by push button.
All have been inspired by Nissan micra

[Rajeev1]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

The stupid driver should be punished and punished hard. Plus I also read in today's DNA, that under the garb of being mentally unsound, the ST driver can be let off the murder charge Strange are ways of Indian laws. He said someone had done black magic on him. From all this I feel he must be schizophrenic or mentally unsound from the beginning.

Coming to the point of the master key, the less said the better. One master key to start all the buses?!! This is as bad as it can get.

Death sentence for Pune bus driver who mowed down 9: Just in: Pune bus driver Santosh Mane has been given the death sentence in a road rage case. Mane went on a rampage last year, killing nine people and injuring 37.

Justice has been served comparatively quickly in this case.

Details available at the following link

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cheat-sh...s-death-351364

[Gotham_City]

Bombay High Court upholds the capital punishment for Santosh Mane (driver who killed 9 people in Pune).

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/de...-lateststories

MUMBAI: A bus driver from Pune who hijacked a public bus two years ago and killed nine people has been given the death sentence by the Bombay High Court
.
Santosh M Mane, 37, sped through the streets of Pune in January 2012, running over pedestrians and hitting other vehicles during rush hour. Nine people were killed and nearly 40 injured during his nightmare drive, which covered more than 10 kilometres.