Incidents of drunken driving on the rise, violators need to be dealt with strictly: Court

Special Judge N K Malhotra made the observation while imposing a fine of Rs 30,000 on a 19-year-old youth challenging a magisterial court order convicting and sentencing him in a motor accident case.

New Delhi, October 2: A Delhi court on Monday observed that the incidents of drunken driving on roads are on the rise and the violators need to be dealt with strictly.

Special Judge N K Malhotra made the observation while imposing a fine of Rs 30,000 on a 19-year-old youth challenging a magisterial court order convicting and sentencing him in a motor accident case.

"The incident of drunken driving are on rise on the public roads. These violators are to be dealt with strict hands. I am of the view ..., we have to look towards the other motorists and pedestrians who are using public roads and the appellant cannot be left with leniency.

"The Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) has taken lenient view and sentenced the appellant for five days. It is not a case of the appellant that he had not pleaded guilty to the offences mentioned in the challan and it is also not the case that the MM has not explained the consequences of his pleading guilty to the offences of the Motor Vehicle Act," the judge said.

The court, however, set aside the five-day imprisonment given to him by the magisterial court on the ground that the youth was a first-time offender and had no criminal history.

According to the prosecution, Gurnaam Singh, a west Delhi resident, was found driving his vehicle in a drunken condition on June 2. He was chased by the traffic police who conducted a breath analyser test that revealed he was heavily drunk, it said.

A case was registered against him and he voluntarily pleaded guilty and a magisterial court awarded him five days imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 6,700.

Challenging the orders, the man sought leniency on the ground that he had no criminal history and claimed he was not a previous offender.

PTI