Menace of drunk driving needs to be curbed: Court

The menace of driving vehicles after consuming liquor needs to be curbed as a number of people die unnatural death daily on the roads of Delhi due to rash and negligent driving, a court here has observed.
Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi, while refusing to grant any relief to Delhi resident Harpreet Singh against his conviction and sentence, affirmed the trial court order and directed that he be taken into custody to serve three months rigorous imprisonment.
"A number of persons daily die unnatural death on the roads of Delhi due to rash and negligent driving by drivers. Driving a vehicle by a person after consuming liquor not only risks his own life but also puts in danger the life of other users of the road.

"The menace of driving vehicles by drivers after consuming liquor needs to be curbed. Stringent punishment needs to be awarded to such reckless drivers to give a strong message to the society," the court said.
It said that the punishment has rightly been awarded to Singh and no ground is made out for interference in the order of sentence passed by the trial court.
The court said Singh was rightly convicted by the trial court as he has failed to show valid insurance papers of the vehicle in question to the police and was also found driving the two-wheeler without helmet.

The trial court had awarded three months jail term to Singh and imposed a fine of Rs 2000 on him. It had also directed him to pay Rs 50,000 to the legal heirs of Sonu Chouhan who was riding pillion with him on the bike.

According to the prosecution, on March 1, 2010, Singh and Chouhan were riding on the two-wheeler towards Kalindi Kunj Park, Okhla here.
It said Singh was not wearing a helmet and while driving rash and negligently on the footpath they had hit the iron railing.
Both Singh and Chouhan fell down from the bike on the road and sustained injuries. Chouhan was rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where he succumbed to the injuries, it said.