Editorial
Law against reckless driving slackens
The idea should be reviewed
Yielding to road transport workers' pressure, the home ministry has decided not to bring murder charges under Section 302 of CrPC against transport drivers responsible for deaths in road accidents. Cases already in motion under this section will be withdrawn. Under the prevailing arrangement they could be prosecuted according the nature of their offence.
This is unfortunate as it will only encourage reckless driving. It will not only close options open to the law-enforcement agencies in dealing with such cases, it will also provide them with impunity of sorts, and untrained drivers with unfit vehicles will now become more callous in the absence of a deterrent law. As it is, we are not aware of any instance where a driver has ever been meted out with the highest punishment under the existing dispensation.
It is worthwhile to note that appalled at reckless driving resulting in increasing number deaths related to roads accidents, civil society members and road safety campaigners had long been demanding that tougher punishment under CrPc be arranged for irresponsible driving.
The idea stands in stark contrast to the fact that our highways are known as death traps, where the number of annual deaths in road accidents is around 3300, and the rate of death of 80 per thousand vehicles on road, far outnumbers that of India and Pakistan.
The government's giving in to pressure from a coterie, perhaps with an eye to the upcoming parliamentary election, does not bode well for establishing discipline on the highways. It should think of reviewing the idea.
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