Drunken driving menace needs to be dealt with iron hand: Delhi Court

New Delhi, Sep 22: A Delhi court has refused to give any relief to a professional car driver on his conviction in a drunken driving case, saying that the menace needs to be curbed with an iron hand to ensure public safety.

"The menace of drunken driving needs to be curbed with an iron hand so as to ensure the safety of general public on the roads," District and Sessions Judge Ina Malhotra said.

The court observed that the breath analysis of the convict reflected exorbitantly high presence of alcohol. "The appellant is a professional driver and to have such people driving in an errant and irresponsible manner is endangering the lives of the general public apart from his own life," it said.

The court turned down the plea of the convict that his blood test was not conducted to ascertain the exact percentage of alcohol in his blood, saying that the breath analyzer is a valid test for the purpose of prosecuting a person under the Motor Vehicles Act amd it does not make the blood test compulsory.

"The extent of alcohol present in the blood of the appellant was recorded at 406.6 mg/100ml. The level of alcohol was more than 13 times of the permissible limit and could easily have been a cause of a road accident," it said.

The court, while dismissing the appeal of the driver against his conviction order, said that to compound the offence, he did not even possess an insurance of the vehicle.

"Interference with the impugned order is not warranted. Conviction and the sentence of three days simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3,000 under Motor Vehicles Act is upheld," it said.

PTI