Court tells convict to serve at temple
A man sentenced to three days in jail for drunken driving has been ordered by a city court to instead perform community service at a local temple once a week for two months, saying that a prison term will be an “indelible blot” on his career.
Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Virendra Bhat ordered 45-year-old Mahesh Kumar to perform community service after being convicted for traffic law violation, observing that sentences are aimed at reforming a person while jailing a first-time offender often turns them into a hardcore criminal.
“The purpose of sentence is and should be to reform a criminal so as to convert him into a law-abiding citizen. It is seen that the sentence of imprisonment, sometimes hardens the first-time offender and instead of reforming him, makes him a hardened criminal,” the court said, asking Kumar to perform community service at Sai Baba temple for seven hours every Thursday for two months. The court also said that a drunk driver is a threat to all the road users. He poses a great risk not only to his own life but to those of others who are on the road at the time.
The ASJ passed the order while setting aside the March 21 order of a magisterial court, which had sentenced Kumar to three days in jail for riding a two-wheeler in an inebriated state. “It is to be noted that the appellant has already lost his right to drive as his driving license stands cancelled. He is married and has four minor children and is in a private service and imprisonment at this stage would put an indelible blot on his future career,” said the court.
Caught driving in an inebriated condition, Kumar was found having a 474 mg/100 ml alcohol content in his blood while the maximum permissible limit is 30 mg/100 ml.
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