In a bid to curb the rising menace of drunk driving, the Mumbai traffic police in a recent meeting with the chief metropolitan magistrate received a positive response on their long pending proposal of having mobile courts while conducting weekly anti-drunk drives, so that punishment can be delivered on the spot to such law-breaking motorists.
The matter is pending before the high court and its not clear as to how many months or years it would take for the proposal to materialise, stated a senior traffic official.
According to the proposal, a magistrate should be standing along with the traffic police personnel, while they conduct nakabandis specifically on weekends and on an odd day in the week to nab errant motorists driving in an inebriated condition, posing a threat to the life of others on the road.
“If the breath-analyser proves that the motorist is in an
inebriated condition, then the magistrate will punish him/her on the spot, thereby saving valuable time,” said deputy commissioner, traffic (suburbs) Pratap Dighavkar. This will also avoid the confusion created by offenders, who later approach the court complaining of being wrongly booked.
“We have requested for a mobile court to be assigned for each of the five regions in the city viz. north, south, east, west and central,” said Mr Dighavkar.
In a related development, the Mumbai traffic police’s proposal, made through the state government in 2010 to increase the punishment given to drunk drivers, was turned down by the Central government.
“Several states have sent their proposals asking for severe punishment to drunk drivers. But, the Centre wants to reach a consensus where all the states would have an uniform law,” added a traffic official requesting anonymity.
When asked what the recommendations were, the official refused to divulge it.