By Praneetha Shivaprasad

A single-judge bench of the Madras High Court requested the assistance of the State Public Prosecutor to come up with a mechanism to deal with cases of rash driving. The court stated that the persons who indulge in rash driving are usually teenagers and people under the age of 25. The court stated that the teenagers who are involved in such bike racing and reckless driving of vehicles should not be ultimately dumped as criminals and at the same time, they should also be made to understand the consequences of their reckless driving of vehicles. The court wished to design a mechanism “like a conveyor belt where the teenagers who indulge in such reckless driving must get into the system and undergo a process and ultimately when they get out, they must have reformed themselves and will no longer be involved in such reckless driving in future”. The court emphasized that criminal jurisprudence in this area must be more towards reformation than branding such teenagers as criminals. (Crl.OP.No.5473 of 2024)

Click here to read/download the order.