Indore Truck Rampage: MP High Court Initiates Suo Motu Case, Asks Police Commissioner How Heavy Vehicle Entered Residential Area

Taking suo motu cognizance of news reports about a truck entering a residential area of Indore during peak evening hours and ploughing into several pedestrians, fatal to three, the Madhya Pradesh High Court sought an explanation from the Commissioner of Police while summoning him to appear in virtually. 

The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf directed the commissioner to file a detailed affidavit explaining

"how said truck was permitted to enter into busy residential area during the peak hours and how it was permitted to travel for approximately 2 kms. and why no action was taken to prevent the entry or to stop the truck from entering into the area". 

The court noted that a video footage uploaded by the Dainik Bhaskar Website showed the truck being driven rashly and negligently, colliding with several cars, two-wheelers and pedestrians before catching fire. 

The court, therefore, passed the following directions;

"The Commissioner of Police, Indore is also impleaded as respondent no.2... The Commissioner of Police, Indore shall be present on the next date of hearing and connected through video conferencing and shall depute a senior officer to be personally present in Court on the said date". 

The suo motu proceedings were initiated after Dainik Bhaskar published a news article along with a video showing the incident. The truck reportedly entered the residential area of Indore from Kalani Nagar Square to Bada Ganpati Square, a stretch of about two kilometres, during peak traffic hours. The accident led to the death of three people, injuring 35 people and 12 with grievous injuries. 

Directing the Registry to file a suo motu public interest litigation, the court ordered; 

"Taking note of the said news article as well as the video on the Website, we direct the Registry to register a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation on the said aspect". 

The court also issued notice to the State Government and the Police Commissioner. It further directed respondents to file an affidavit demonstrating the measures being proposed to avoid recurrence of such incidents in the future. 

The matter was listed for September 23, 2025. 

Case Title: In Reference Suo Motu PIL v The State of Madhya Pradesh (WP no 37620 of 2025)

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