A mobile court in the city has begun slapping jail term on offenders, instead of just letting them off with fines, to curb drunken driving.
Two mobile courts were established in the city for North and South Chennai in 1986. Offences under the Motor Vehicle Act such as drunken driving, driving without a licence, and violating traffic norms were tried by the mobile courts.
After registration of cases, the offenders would either be produced or appear before the mobile courts and the presiding officer in the cadre of metropolitan magistrate would impose punishment.
Under section 181 of the Act, for persons driving a vehicle without licence, the punishment is three months simple imprisonment or fine of Rs 500 or both. Under section 185, the punishment for drunken driving is six months simple imprisonment or a fine of `2,000 or both.
It was the normal practice of these courts to impose only fine on offenders.
However, the XXI Metropolitan Magistrate J. Chandran, the presiding officer of Mobile court in North Chennai started slapping jail term on offenders since May this year.
This came in the wake of an increase in fatal accidents because of drunken driving, the danger it poses to other vehicle users and pedestrians and, more particularly, the Madras high court’s recent observation that no leniency should be shown on drunken driving offenders.
On an average, 100 to 150 cases of drunken driving were being registered in a month and more than 1,500 cases of drunken driving were being registered in a year.
To curb the menace of drunken driving, Chandran on May 20 had imposed a 15-day jail term for drunken driving. This gave a strong signal for the drunken drivers as there was no provision of bail.
The magistrate has so far imposed 15-day imprisonment on five persons each for drunken driving. “Since the introduction of imposing jail term, the number of cases has come down,” said court sources.