Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaces Indian Penal Code. What motorists should know

Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) has been introduced across India and implemented effectively from July 1, replacing the decade-old British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC). With the new criminal code enforced, several FIRs have been filed across India already and some of them are related to rash driving.

In Telangana, the first FIR under the BNS was filed at Rajendranagar Police Station under the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate on Monday morning. The FIR was filed under the BNS (Section 104) (Causing death due to negligence) and pertained to the death of a driver who crashed his car into the median on PVNR Expressway. The first FIR in Kerala under the new criminal code too was filed to book a man for rash driving (Section 281). The man was also booked under the Motor Vehicles Act (MV Act) 1988.

As the new criminal code has been enforced, cases have started being filed under it. The BNS has been formulated as a stricter rulebook compared to the IPC. It attracts heavier fines and even jail terms for traffic rule violators.

Here are some key things motorists should know about the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: Hit and run

Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita's section 106, punishments for hit-and-run cases have become stricter. According to the new rule, whoever causes the death of any person by rash and negligent driving of a vehicle not amounting to culpable homicide, and escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a Magistrate soon after the incident, shall be punished with 10 years of imprisonment. He or she shall also be liable to a fine amounting to ₹7 lakh. Under the Indian Penal Code, the punishment for the same offence was a jail term of 10 years and a fine of ₹2 lakh.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: Rash driving

Under the new criminal code's section 281, rash driving or riding will attract a punishment of up to six months of jail terms or a ₹1,000 fine or both. The rulebook says that whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

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