Bhubaneswar: Cracking the whip on drunken driving, the state government once again asked the Commissionerate Police to arrest people driving vehicles in twin city under the influence of alcohol, instead of imposing pecuniary fine on them.
Commerce and Transport secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi has written a letter to the Police Commissioner Thursday.
Power for compounding certain sections of Motor Vehicle (MV) Act has been delegated to police officers in the state. However, power for compounding under Section 185 of the Act has not been delegated to the police officers.
Therefore, Padhi asked the police commissioner to instruct all police stations under Commissionerate Police not to compound the drunken driving eases. “Drunken drivers must be arrested as per the provisions of MV Act,” he said. The move came after a lady was reportedly allowed to go after she was found driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol in the capital city recently.
For detection of drunken driving, adequate number of breath analysers has been provided to police stations and RTOs, he added.
The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety in August 2015 had directed that “in case of driving a vehicle under the influence of drinks and drugs, the police should prosecute the offender and seek imprisonment as prescribed under Section 185 of MV Act, 1988 even for the first offence.”
The Committee has also asked the state for suspension of driving licence of such offender for a period of not less than three months.
Section 185 of the MV Act says, “Whoever, while driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle under the influence of drinks and drugs, shall be punishable for the first offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine of `10,000 or with both; and for a second or subsequent offence, with imprisonment for a term which may extend up to 2 years, or with fine which may extend to `15,000 or with both.”
As many as 1,068 road accidents have occurred in the state due to drunken driving during 2019.