Rashness consists in hazarding a dangerous or wanton act with the knowledge

5. Apex Court in S.N. Hussain v. State of Andhra Pradesh [1972 (3) SCC 18] held as follows:

(i) Rashness consists in hazarding a dangerous or wanton act with the knowledge that it is so, and that it may cause injury. The criminality lies in such a case in running the risk of doing such an act with recklessness or indifference as to the consequences. Criminal negligence on the other hand, is the gross and culpable neglect or failure to exercise that reasonable and proper care and precaution to guard against injury either to the public generally or to an individual in particular, which, having regard to all the circumstances out of which the charge has arisen, it was the imperative duty of the accused  person to have adopted.
(ii) Culpable negligence lies in the failure to exercise reasonable and proper care and the extent of its reasonableness will always depend upon the circumstances of each case. In a case of accident on a level railway crossing where the gate is open and there is no train scheduled to pass at the time, the driver would be justified in driving his vehicle through the level crossing. Passenger trains have a time schedule and if a train is expected to come at about the time the appellant reached the level crossing, a regular driver of motor vehicles on that route may, perhaps, be found negligent in crossing the railway track, if any mischance, the gate was open. But in the case where a goods train not scheduled to pass the level crossing, just about the time the bus reached the spot and an accident takes place, the appellant cannot be held guilty of criminal negligence because he may not have known that a goods train would be coming at that moment. In such circumstances the appellant will not be guilty merely because he did not stop when the road signal wanted him to stop. Such a case will be a case of unavoidable accident because of the negligence of the gateman in keeping the gate open and inviting the vehicles to pass.