Panchkula, Dec. 26 -- Despite two key witnesses turning hostile, a court of judicial magistrate in Panchkula convicted a tractor-trailer driver in a five-year-old fatal road accident case registered at Chandimandir police station.

The accused, Kishanpal of Indira Colony, Sector 17, was held guilty under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code, but acquitted under Section 185 (driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs) of the Motor Vehicles Act. He was awarded six months' simple imprisonment under Section 304-A and a similar six-month term under Section 279 of the IPC. Both terms will run concurrently.

The court also declined to grant him the benefit of the Probation of Offenders...