Supreme Court Seeks Stringent Punishment For Rash , Negligent Driving,Asks Lawmakers To Re-look ,Re-visit Penal Laws

31 March, New Delhi

The Supreme Court has urged the lawmakers to consider a change in statute to have more stringent punishment where rash and negligent driving causes death.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant observed that a maximum punishment of two years in jail with fine under Section 304 A of the IPC may not serve the purpose of a law being deterrent, which could be an imperative necessity at times. Section 304A of the IPC deals with the offence of causing death by rash and negligent act and provides for imprisonment for maximum of two years or fine or both.

Irked over light sentences being awarded in road accident cases, the bench said, India had a disreputable record in this regard and asked the lawmakers to scrutinise, re-look and re-visit the penal laws.

Anguished over growing cases of reckless and drunken driving, the bench observed that the poor feel that their lives are not safe, the pedestrians think of uncertainty and the civilised persons drive in constant fear but still apprehensive about the obnoxious attitude of the people who project themselves as larger than life.