The story so far: Truck drivers announced a month-long strike on January 1 to protest against stricter punishment for hit-and-run cases under the new law, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. As drivers of trucks, buses, and oil tankers staged demonstrations and blocked roads at several places across States, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, it led to fears of fuel shortage. On the second day of the strike, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) held a meeting with one of the transporters’ bodies, the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), to defuse the situation.
What is the hit-and-run clause?
Section 106 (1) of the BNS says, “Whoever causes death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.” And Section 106 (2) states, “Whoever causes death of any person by rash and negligent driving of 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 imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
