Drunk driving: Student says no to alcohol, gets court relief

A 24-year-old student sentenced to two-day jail for drunk driving got relief from a sessions court which reduced his imprisonment till the rising of the court after he said he has learnt a lesson and quit drinking.
District and Sessions Judge Deepa Sharma reduced the two- day jail term awarded to the youth pursuing BA from IGNOU.
"The circumstances and the fact that the appellant/accused has learned a lesson as he has submitted that he has stopped drinking from the day he was caught; the fact that he is a young boy of 24 years and is pursuing his BA Pass Course and he has a career in front of him and, in case, he is sent to custody to serve the sentence, it is likely to ruin his future career," the court said.

The judge passed the order on an appeal moved by the student against a magisterial court's order which sentenced him to two-day jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 3,500.
Earlier this month, the boy was caught riding a motorcycle without any licence. Medical test found that he had a very high alcohol content in his blood when he was apprehended.
The sessions court noted that "by driving the vehicle so heavily drunk, he not only was endangering his own life but also the life of other road users" and that the order of the magistrate did not suffer from any illegality.

It, however, adopted a lenient view considering his age and future.