If spared, youth may not realise the wrong done by him: Court

A young offender, if spared of adequate punishment, may not realise the consequence of the wrong done by him which may encourage him to repeat the offence, a Delhi court said, sending a youth to three days in jail for drunken driving.
The court's observation came while dismissing the appeal of 31-year-old Pramod, a Uttar Pradesh resident, who was convicted and sentenced for drunken driving. He had challenged a magisterial court order sentencing him to a three-day jail term and a fine of Rs 2,000.
"A young person if spared of adequate punishment at this stage may not realise the consequence of the wrong done by him. Inadequate sentence may encourage him to take the situation lightly and be oblivious of societal consequences and he may tend to repeat the offence," Special Judge Narottam Kaushal.

The court said the fact that the convict, Pramod, was found heavily drunk and driving a van, called for deterrent punishment saying the corrective theory of sentencing has a societal angle to it.
"A prudent person is presumed to know the danger he can cause to himself or other road users by driving a motorised vehicle, when he is incapable of exercising proper control over the same.
"Such a person on the steering wheel of a four-wheeler is capable of causing grevious injury or even death of innocent person, for no fault of such person," the court said.

Terming the magisterial court order on conviction and sentence as "adequate and appropriate", the court said the maximum sentence provided in the statue being six months, the present sentence cannot be said to be harsh.

In his appeal, Pramod had claimed that though he had consumed some liquor, the breath analyser equipment used by the traffic police had previously been used by other offenders and hence displayed higher level of alcohol, than actual.
The police however opposed the plea, saying he has himself pleaded guilty before magisterial court and the amount of alcohol intake by him was very high, leading him to be extremely reckless and negligent.