Drunken Driving Will Not Be Treated Leniently Even If Accident Is Minor: Supreme Court

According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, in 2021 a total of 25,453 drunken driving cases were booked in India under which 206 persons were sent to prison while the lives of 18 individuals were claimed. As a consequence of such facts and a recent case that presented itself in front of the Supreme Court of India, the apex court observed that for the sole reason that any major accident was not reported, it cannot be a ground to show leniency in drunken driving cases.

Under the division bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna, the Supreme Court ruled out that the act of driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol is not only misconduct but also an offence. Nobody can be permitted to drive a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

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The court during a hearing of a recent case that involved a minor accident by an employee of government said, “Driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and playing with the life of others is very serious misconduct. There are also other misconducts earlier committed by the employee,” The court added, “Merely because there was no major loss and it was a minor accident cannot be a ground to show leniency. It was sheer luck that the accident was not a fatal accident. It could have been a fatal accident,”

The apex court of the nation observed this conclusion as a case in which a government employee named Brijesh Chandra Dwivedi (since deceased) was given a punishment of dismissal by Allahabad High Court. The said case was that the employee who was a driver posted at the 12th Battalion, P.A.C. at Fatehpur was on his duty driving a truck carrying P.A.C. personnel from Fatehpur to Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela duties. During the drive to the destination, the truck met with a minor accident in which it hit the backside of a Jeep on road because of the employee being drunk.

Upon which an inquiry was initiated by the department. The officer in charge of the inquiry suggested to the High Court of Allahabad that the employee should be given a punishment of dismissal for his actions to which the court obliged. However, the now-deceased employee filed a petition to the High Court that his awarded punishment was too harsh and requested a review but the court dismissed his petition.

Subsequently, the employee knocked on the door of the Supreme Court of the country for the same but during the proceedings died, because of which his heirs were brought on record and later at the end, the court proceeded to say that, “When the employee was driving a truck carrying the P.A.C. personnel who were traveling in the truck were in the hands of the driver. Therefore, it can be said that he played with the lives of those P.A.C. personnel, who were on duty and traveling from Fatehpur to Allahabad on Kumbh Mela duty,”

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