Court case(2012) 8 SCC 450

In the early hours of 10 January 1999 the accused, after drinking, drove a BMW car at high speed on Lodhi Road, New Delhi, and ran into a group of persons, including police personnel, standing at a police check-post. Six persons were killed and one was injured. The accused did not stop; he drove away, dragging some of the victims under the car. The trial court convicted him under s. 304 Part II IPC and sentenced him to five years' rigorous imprisonment. The Delhi High Court altered the conviction to s. 304A IPC (causing death by negligence) and reduced the sentence to two years, which he had already undergone. The State appealed.

The Supreme Court held that the High Court erred in reducing the offence. Driving after consuming alcohol, at high speed, at night, into persons at a check-post, and then fleeing, showed that the accused had knowledge that his act was likely to cause death, so the offence fell within s. 304 Part II and not s. 304A. On sentence, having regard to the period already undergone, the time that had elapsed and the circumstances, the Court did not send him back to prison but directed him to pay Rs 50 lakh to the Union of India for the compensation of victims of road accidents, in particular hit-and-run cases, and to render two years of community service. Dipak Misra J., concurring, emphasised the menace of drunken driving and the duty of the court to consider victim compensation. The Court urged Parliament to reconsider the adequacy of the punishment under s. 304A for deaths caused by drunken driving.