The Supreme Court has expressed deep misgivings about a recent Uttar Pradesh amendment that allows certain Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) criminal trials to abate if penalties are not paid. According to the court, this could undermine the deterrent purpose of the law, especially in serious cases like drunken driving.
Under the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) (Amendment) Act, trials for some MVA offences automatically terminate if a fine is not settled by a specific deadline. Critics argue that this means a drunken driver who avoids paying a fine may end up facing no criminal consequences at all.
During hearing, the Supreme Court noted that such abatement defeats the very purpose of penal laws under the MVA, which are meant to discourage dangerous driving and safeguard public safety. Automatically ending proceedings for traffic offenders, the court observed, risks sending a dangerous signal: that penal consequences can simply be avoided.
The court has referred the issue to a broader road-safety committee tasked with examining ongoing systemic concerns around traffic law enforcement. The committee may recommend legal or policy reforms ensuring that compounding or abatement mechanisms do not compromise accountability in life-threatening cases, especially drink-driving.
The Supreme Court’s strong intervention underscores its commitment to preserving the punitive and preventive goals of traffic law, particularly in states that provide for compounding or abatement of MVA offences.
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