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Chandigarh: Negative report by private lab helps drunk driving accused walk free
The court also took note of the fact that the prosecution’s case was based only on the reading of the alcohol sensor, while the police did not get the car driver medically examined, as mandated under the Motor Vehicles’ Act
A 33-year-old man who was challaned by the traffic police for drunken driving in 2017 has been acquitted by a local court after he produced a private lab’s report from the same night that declared that he was not drunk.
The court of chief judicial magistrate Dr Aman Inder Singh also took note of the fact that the prosecution’s case was based only on the reading of the alcohol sensor, while the police did not get the car driver medically examined, as mandated under the Motor Vehicles’ (MV) Act.
Ankit, a resident of New Guru Nanak Nagar, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, was stopped at a naka behind Hotel Shivalikview, Sector 17, on the Sector 16/17 dividing road on May 10, 2017.
When he was asked to blow in the alcohol sensor used by the traffic police, the device gave a reading of 38.8 mg, which is beyond the admissible limit of 30 mg under the MV Act.
Accordingly, the accused was challaned and his car was impounded. However, Ankit pleaded he was not guilty and opted for trial under Section 185 (drunken driving) of the MV Act.
During the trial, four traffic cops were called by the prosecution as eye-witnesses. Among them, inspector Ashwani Kuma Attri, under whose supervision the naka was set up, admitted that the accused had objected to the alcohol sensor’s reading, claiming that he had not taken any quantity of alcohol and his friend had also objected to issuance of challan.
In his defence, Ankit called upon the head of SRL Lab in Sector 11, Dr Pranjali Vashisht, to prove his medical report. Dr Vashisht deposed that Ankit had come to the private lab for a test to evaluate alcohol in blood at 9.09 pm on the day of the incident and alcohol serum was not detected in his blood.
The court also observed that after the challan was issued at 8.25 pm, the accused got himself examined at SRL Lab at 9.11 pm on the same day and no alcohol was detected in the blood. Thus, noting that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond shadow of reasonable doubt, the court acquitted the accused.
Under the MV Act, the offence of drunk driving entails a ₹10,000 fine and suspension of driving licence for six months. But after getting a higher than permissible reading on the alcohol sensor, police need to get the accused medically tested to corroborate whether the driver is drunk.
