Rash Driving | Criminal Jurisprudence Must Move Towards Reforming Teenagers Than Branding Them As Criminals: Madras High Court

Justice Anand Venkatesh observed that instead of dumping the teenagers as criminals, they must be made to understand the consequences of reckless driving. The court thus suggested a conveyor belt-like system where the teenager indulging in reckless driving would get into the system and come out as a reformed person who no longer got involved in such reckless driving.

“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. Therefore, there must be 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 involve in such reckless driving in future. Criminal jurisprudence in this area must be more towards reformation than branding such teenagers as criminals,” the court observed.

The State Public Prosecutor informed the court that the Additional Commissioner of Police was already in touch with experts in adolescent psychology and attempting to come up with a mechanism to deal with the psychology of teenagers who are prone to reckless driving.

The court was dealing with a plea involving two persons who were involved in rash driving. During the hearing, the court had asked the State Public Prosecutor to come up with a mechanism to deal with cases involving teenagers engaged in reckless driving.

Following this, the Additional Commissioner of Police filed a status report identifying the major roads in which the youngsters were involved in reckless racing. The Additional Commissioner also informed the court that the Greater Chennai Traffic Police had been taking methods to discourage racing by putting regular checking points, posting special teams, special schemes, zig-zag barricades, installing cameras, etc.

The court was also informed that regular counseling was being given to the violators, who were teenagers and their social media pages were also being monitored to ensure that they were not engaged in reckless driving. Whenever videos were posted that included stunts and traffic rule violations, appropriate action was initiated.

The Corporation also informed the court that it intended to adopt a multi-faceted approach integrating innovative technologies, targeted enforcement, and community engagement to curb reckless road behavior, reducing instances of bike/car racing and rash driving.

The court noted that most of the persons engaged in reckless driving were teenagers falling within the age group of 18 and 25 years and who were in the grips of hormones without sufficient maturity. The court also noticed that social media also played a major role in influencing teenagers. Thus, the court suggested that some reformative approach was necessary.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 117

Case Title: Mohammed Ashik v Inspector of Police

Case No: Crl OP 5473 of 2024