The Banastarim drunken driving case appears to have hit a speed bump. The FIR says it was the man, and the witness says it was the woman. There has been confusion in the minds of the people as regards who was driving the vehicle. Moreover the car had multiple unpaid challans. If the police had acted in time and cancelled the driver’s licence, the three lives would have been saved. The incident brings to the fore the issue of unchecked drunken driving on Goan roads. The laws have become great mockery of justice system. The rich, and mighty always get away with notorious deeds. it’s a man or woman, lives are lost due to alcohol consumption and the lack of evidence to prove it only because of the nexus of law makers and the law keepers. The gaping holes in the police investigation and the poor conviction rate expose the hollowness of any resolve to tackle such cases. The traffic regulatory authorities laziness and negligence are also one of the reasons causing rise in accident cases. The disproportionate impact of a road crash hits poor households and pushes them into a vicious cycle of poverty and debt. Laws have been structured to discriminate against the poor.
