Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday pulled up the state government and the traffic police for their autocratic attitude in sending people to jail without following due procedure for violation of rules, like talking on the mobile phone while driving.
The court asked the police what authority and provision of the law allowed them to send such drivers to jail. The court said the police department was abusing the law when they sent errant drivers to jail on their whims and fancies.
A division bench was dealing with a petition challenging the order of a lower court which had sentenced one M.V. Bharadwaj, 25, to four days imprisonment for talking on his mobile phone while driving, under Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Justice Chauhan said he was amazed by the method adopted by the police to send Mr Bharadwaj to jail and was concerned by the repercussions of the action. The judge asked, “Do the police ever guess the consequence it would have on the future of a young person?”
“If the same method is applied on a person working in the government, what would be the effect on that person’s service and how would his family suffer?” Justice Chauhan asked.
The bench set aside the lower court’s order of four days in jail and changed it to a fine of '500. The bench directed the Charlapally Jail superintendent to release Mr Bharadwaj, who has been in jail from February 18.
