‘Prudent person won’t drink and drive’
No pre-arrest bail to woman accused of drunk driving and killing two people
Observing that a prudent person will not drive a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant pre-arrest bail to a woman, who allegedly rammed her Mercedes car in an inebriated state into a bike, killing two in February.
Underlining that drunk driving is a serious misconduct, the court said when a vehicle is driven after consuming alcohol, road accidents become a predictable consequence.
“In such a scenario, attributing knowledge to the driver that death can be a likely consequence of drunken driving is legally tenable,” Justice Urmila Joshi Phalke said on
Wednesday.
The judge further said that the accused, Ritu Maloo, is well-educated and belongs to a highly-respectable family. However, she fled from the accident spot and later even tried to claim that she was not behind the wheel, Justice Phalke noted.
Initially, the police had booked Maloo under the offence of causing death by negligence, rash driving and causing hurt to a person by a rash act. Following the death of the two victims, the police invoked the provision of section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Maloo was initially granted bail. However, the police sought to arrest her again following which she approached the HC. Her plea contended
that she had consumed alcohol in the permissible limits and that it was a mere accident. Also, custodial interrogation was not required, the plea added.
The judge relied on CCTV footage and said the Maloo had covered a distance of 3.8 km within three-five minutes on the night of the accident. “The applicant has driven the car in a drunken condition and hit the bike.
In the accident, two persons have lost their lives. Without showing any remorse to them, the applicant left the place,” the court said.
It underscored that the manner in which the accident has occurred is sufficient to attract the IPC section 304. “Nobody can be permitted to drive a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
Driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and playing with the lives of others is a very serious misconduct,” the court reiterated.