A Navi Mumbai-based journalist, Sandhya Jain (56), who writes on women's rights and safety, was severely injured in a hit-and-run accident on Palm Beach Road. A speeding motorcyclist jumped a red signal and crashed into her scooty.
Incident Details
On May 18, Jain was driving her scooty to the NMMC head-office in Belapur for a meeting with a civic official. According to CCTV recordings from two cameras at the NRI Junction of Palm Beach Road, at exactly 4:39 pm, a biker wearing a maroon shirt jumped the red signal and collided with her scooty while she was moving forward on a green light.
Jain fell unconscious on the busy road. The biker lifted his motorcycle and pushed it away from the scene to escape. She has been lying at Apollo Hospital in Seawoods for nine days with multiple fractures in both hands, a nose fracture, facial trauma, and other injuries.
Police Investigation Hampered
An FIR was registered at NRI police station against the unknown biker for reckless driving. However, the culprit has not been arrested because the motorcycle's number plate could not be captured due to poor CCTV camera quality on the city's landmark road stretch.
Investigating officer Kiran Swar of NRI police said, 'We have checked some CCTV recordings from the time of the accident, but the bike number plate is not clearly visible. We are further inquiring into this matter.'
Response from Authorities
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) Commissioner Kailas Shinde stated, 'While NMMC has a CCTV monitoring room at our Belapur head-office, the police also have a similar control room. They are the primary users of CCTV to check traffic violations. The police should have reported earlier if there was any issue with camera quality.' He added that a private agency is currently responsible for CCTV maintenance.
Public Outcry
Social activist Madhu Shankar commented, 'What is the use of such an extensive CCTV network if cameras cannot even capture vehicle registration numbers? While this accident happened in daytime, I wonder how vehicles will be identified at night. Both NMMC and the police must address this critical issue.'
City-based social worker Rajesh Singh of Ganga Sagar Foundation said, 'I regularly use Palm Beach Road and have noticed CCTV cameras at various traffic signals. If these cameras fail to capture number plates, they should be replaced with high-definition cameras with AI tools for face recognition.'
