Observing that “a brief sojourn in jail is not considered a healthy practice”, a Delhi court has quashed three days’ imprisonment to a computer engineer in a drunk driving case.
A Metropolitan Magistrate court had sentenced the accused to three days’ imprisonment, imposed a fine of ₹2,000 and suspended his driving licence for six months when he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The police had intercepted the accused at a traffic intersection when he was returning from a birthday party of one of his friends. When subjected to the breath analyser by the traffic police, the accused was found to be having 58 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.
‘Will have adverse effect’
In his appeal challenging the sentence, the accused submitted that the sentence of three days’ would “stigmatise his status in society” and would have an “adverse effect on his child and wife, who is a practising doctor”. His counsel further submitted that the appellant was not heavily drunk.
Setting aside the sentence order, Additional Sessions Judge A. K. Kuhar said: “A brief sojourn in jail is not considered a healthy practice as it exposes the person to the company of hardened criminals and may play a damaging role on the psyche of the convict. The fact that the appellant admitted his guilt at the very first hearing definitely calls for a lenient view in the matter.”
