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Faulty breathalysers unfair: Experts
City-based activists find the anomaly found in the readings of breathalysers shocking as they feel the faulty machines are unfair towards innocent people who might be getting penalised for nothing.
City-based activists find the anomaly found in the readings of breathalysers shocking as they feel the faulty machines are unfair towards innocent people who might be getting penalised for nothing.
GR Vohra, a member of AGNI, an NGO, said the news was scandalous.
“It also means that at times someone who might have been drunk could have gotten away due to a faulty breathalyser,” Vohra said adding that it showed a lack on the part of the police to maintain quality.
He said that the faulty machines could have led to someone having been caught despite not being drunk.
“If the new lot has defects, even the older ones could have been faulty,” he said adding that the police also do not maintain proper sanitation.
MR Bhalekar, Secretary General of Western India Automobile Association, said that under no circumstances should an innocent person get penalised.
“If there is a manufacturing defect in the breathalyser, it means that an innocent person could also get booked. This should not happen,” he said.
Jitendra Gupta, a member of a citizens group called Mumbai Intellectual’s Voice, said that a friend of his had a harrowing time due to the defective machines.
“He doesn’t drink but he was stopped a couple of weeks ago while he was riding his bike home and was made to undergo a breathalyser test which showed him drunk,” Gupta said.
“My friend, intending to prove the police was wrong approached a nearby government hospital immediately, but they refused to carry out the test as no policeman had accompanied him,” he said adding that private clinics were shut due to late hours.
He said that his friend was not just made to pay a fine but was also made to appear in court, adding to his humiliation.
Gupta stressed that the findings of the committee should make the police look into the faults of the machine.
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