Plea in Supreme Court bats for attracting Non Bailable Penal Provisions in road accident cases

Amid the increasing number of cases pertaining to road accidents and with a view to create an apprehension in the minds of offenders, a plea has been filed in Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre and Union Territories to make the penal provisions under section 279, 304 A, 337, 338 under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as non bailable and reversing the onus on the accused.

It has been argued that due to the death and injuries suffered by persons in road accidents, the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 is at stake. 

Preferred by Shrikant Prasad the plea states that due to high density and modern vehicles drivers drive the vehicles in a rash and negligent manner which results in death of persons. Irrespective of the same, due to the bailable nature of the penal provisions, they get bail. 

“A professional driver pedals the accelerator of the automobile almost throughout his working hours. He must constantly inform himself that he cannot afford to have a single moment of laxity or inattentiveness when his leg is on the pedal of a vehicle in locomotion. He cannot and should not take a chance thinking that a rash driving need not necessarily cause any accident; or even if any accident occurs it need not necessarily result in the death of any human being; or even if such death ensues he might not be convicted of the offence; and lastly, that even if he is convicted he would be dealt with leniently by the court. He must always keep in his mind the fear that if he is convicted of the offence for causing the death of a human being due to his callous driving of the vehicle he cannot escape from a jail sentence,” plea states.

Reliance has been placed on the Road Accident Report for 2019 as per which a total number of 4,49,002 accidents took place in the country during the calendar year 2019 leading to 1,51,113 deaths and 4,51,361 injuries. The working age group of 18-60 accounted for a share of 84% in the total road accident deaths. Under the category of Traffic Rule violations, over speeding continued to be a major killer in 2019 accounting for 67% of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side of the road which accounted for 6% of the road accident related deaths.

Along with seeking relief for making the penal provisions related to road accidents as non bailable, the petitioner has sought for directing respondent no 1 to 34 to take appropriate steps to reduce the vehicle density on roads by restricting the people from buying more than 2 vehicles in a family as in Singapore. The plea further seeks for directing the respondent no 35 to 59 to direct their subordinate courts to entertain the accident cases and decide the bail applications on merits and not in a routine manner u/s 436 so that the fear of law is generated in the mind of the accused and road users as per the the judgement if this honourable court mentioned in this writ petition.

Relief has also been sought to constitute a committee to overlook the vehicle congestion and its consequences to the environment to take appropriate steps.

Shrikant Prasad in his plea has further mentioned a suggestion for amending Section 304 A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for making the offence of rash and negligent driving punishable with the maximum term of imprisonment of ten years, instead of two years and non bailable along with the shift of onus on accused  as at present provided.

Case Title: Shrikant Prasad v. Union of India