SC to Govt: Amend laws to provide harsh punishment for rash, negligent driving

"There has to be fear of law among the people indulging in rash and reckless driving on roads at cost of others life," said the apex court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central Government to amend laws to provide harsh punishment for rash and negligent driving.

An apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asserted that people are dying in road accidents, adding stringent law is the need of the hour.

"There has to be fear of law among the people indulging in rash and reckless driving on roads at cost of others life," the apex court bench said.

"People were losing their lives and limbs in road accidents. There should be a fear of the law," the court added.

Concerned about the menace of rash and negligent driving which claims nearly 400 lives on Indian roads every day, the Supreme Court had earlier this year said that the existing two-year imprisonment for the offence was grossly inadequate.