A big part of Shantaram is how car accidents were punished by riot. Apparently crashing into pedestrians could get you and your passengers beaten to death by a mob. Any truth to this?
There have been multiple cases [1],[2] where a mob has taken matters into their own hands either out of a collective sympathy for the victim [1] or a collective animosity toward the driver [3]. There are many more instances one can find, and at the risk of sounding political, crashing into a cow will get you into more trouble than crashing into people.
[1] https://www.ndtv.com/patna-news/bihar-3-children-sleeping-on...
[2] https://www.ndtv.com/cities/driver-beaten-to-death-after-tru...
[3] https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/auto-driver-beate...