Manning traffic in hot sun punishment for drunken driving

New Delhi -- Punishment too can be innovative. A Delhi court , besides, imposing the statutory punishment of 3000 rupees for drunken driving, has asked a young offender to man a traffic point for 10 days.

Eighteen-year-old Deepak Gupta of New Delhi’s Sangam Vihar locality has been sweating it out after the punishment was awarded to him on June 6.

Gupta was arrested in an inebriated state on the night of February 16 after

his car rammed into a road divider while trying to overtake a motorist. A case was filed against him, and the judgement delivered last week.

The teenager accepted his guilt for violating traffic rules. He has accepted the punishment, and says he has now realised how difficult it was to manage traffic. He is also glad that he did not have to go to jail.

“This is better than jail at least. As part of the punishment I have to spend 10 days here and learn the traffic rules. I would not want anyone else to drink and drive like I did,” he said, while assisting a traffic police at Nehru Place.

He is not the only person who is feeling guilty. Gupta’s friend Ankush, who

was present in the car at the time of the accident, feels just as responsible as Gupta, and giving him company at the traffic intersection.

Meanwhile, the lawyers are arguing about the competence of the court to award the punishment. Ajay Thakur said that the lower court, which has punished Deepak, does not have the power to do so. The power to give such punishment, he says, lies with the High Court under section 482 of Criminal Procedure code

Many feel, that this unique punishment may be a better way of teaching teenagers and taking them to task for the rash driving (ANI)