Hyderabad: No imprisonment, only fine for drunk drivers on first time

In the view of the long pending drunk and drive cases, the city police department is taking steps to fine the motorists who were caught in drunk driving for the first time.

The police department has taken the decision to resolve the pending drunk and drive cases in the mega Lok Adalat on March 12. Telangana Legal Services Authority (TLSA) has sent a proposal listing out the pending cases in various courts in the city. As the proposal has been approved, all the pending cases will be heard in the Lok Adalat and those who were caught in the drunk and drive case for the first time will be awarded a fine of Rs 2,000 and no imprisonment. However, the case was different earlier, the court used to penlize the drunk drivers of Rs 10,000 and imprisonment varies from days to month based on the alcohol amount in the blood of drunk drivers.

It is said that around 1.5 lakh drunk and drive cases were pending from 2016 of which 1 lakh people were caught for the first time. Meanwhile, around Rs 2,300 crore fine has been collected for them since 2016. However, as the annual payments did not exceed 30-40 per cent, the decision has been taken up to resolve the issues. Measures have been taken to waive off the fine if 50 per cent of it is paid.