Punishment for fatal reckless driving
WE felicitate the High Court for reinstating the seven-year imprisonment term for reckless driving by striking out the nearly three-decade old amendments to the CrPC and the Penal Code. Those amendments had commuted the maximum punishment from seven to three years during Ershad era.
Thus, the raising of the jail term from 3 to 7 years is an improvement from a retrograde measure but it does not go far enough. And as if to emphasise the point the court itself recommended further increase in punishment to “uphold people's right to life.”
All this sounds somewhat academic when you consider the research finding that only less than five percent culprits actually get punished. That only suggests that regardless of the degree of stringency of any law what really matters is its implementation. Merely giving teeth to the law will not strike fear in the minds of the offenders unless conviction is handed to them and they are actually punished with a deterring effect on themselves as well as potential offenders. So long as we fail to efficiently and effectively apply the law deaths on roads will continue to recur.
Certain other specific steps need to be taken as safeguards against accidents that literally wait to happen. The practice of operating vehicles with forged licences and fitness certificates must be stopped. Training of bus and truck drivers and enforcement of traffic and highway laws must be ensured with required logistic support and supervisory vigilance.
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