On Truck Drivers’ Protests – Striking fear

Source: This post on Truck Drivers’ Protests has been created based on the article “Striking fear” published in “The Hindu” on 4th January 2024.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 Governance – Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors.

News: The article discusses the reasons behind the recent truck drivers’ protests and the issues raised by them.

Background:

Recently, truck drivers worried about the implications of Section 106 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) abstained from work. This has led the government to promise to implement the provision after consultations with the All India Motor Transport Congress.

What are the provisions in the BNS that are being protested by truck drivers?

Section 106 in the BNS will replace Section 304A of IPC. It will treat hit-and-run accident cases as an aggravated form of the offence of causing death by rashness or negligence.

First, Section 106 of the BNS prescribes a prison term of up to 5 years, besides a fine, for causing death due to rash or negligent acts. The existing section provides for a 2-year jail term.

Second, road accidents in which, if the person involved in rash and negligent driving “escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a Magistrate soon after the incident”, the imprisonment may extend to 10 years and a fine.

In other words, the jail term for accidents have been raised from the present 2 to 5 years in all cases, and to 10, in the case of failure to report them to the authorities.

What are the issues being raised with the provisions?

1. Additional criminal liability: Punishments have been made more stringent.
2. Fear of Lynching: Drivers usually run away from an accident scene out of a fear of lynching. It is a belief that such drivers can move away from the scene of crime and then report to the police. However, fleeing the scene would constitute a hit-and-run case, thus falling under ‘causing death by rashness or negligence’.
3. Lack of Focus on Wider Issues: Given that many accidents are caused due to poor road conditions, questions have been raised on the lack of a comprehensive accident prevention policy package covering imprisonment, compensation and safety. Merely raising prison terms may not solve the prevailing issues.

Question for practice:

Merely raising prison terms for road accidents cannot be the solution to improving road safety in India. Discuss.