MV Act offender can also be tried under IPC: Top court

New Delhi, October 7

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A person committing offences under the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act like over-speeding and rash driving can also be booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as both statutes “operate with full vigour, in their own independent spheres”, the Supreme Court has said.

“With rapidly increasing motorisation, India is facing an increasing burden of road traffic injuries and fatalities,” it said. A Bench of Justices Indu Malhotra and Sanjiv Khanna set aside an order of the Gauhati High Court of December 22, 2008, which held that a person booked for over-speeding, dangerously driving and other related offences under the MV Act cannot be prosecuted under the IPC. “In our considered view, the position of law is well-settled. This court has consistently held that the MV Act, 1988, is a complete code in itself in so far as motor vehicles are concerned,” the Bench said in a recent judgment.

“However, there is no bar under the MV Act or otherwise, to try and prosecute offences under the IPC for an offence relating to motor vehicle accidents. On this ground as well, the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside,” it said.

The top court said the ingredients of offences under the both statutes are different and an offender can be tried and punished independently under both of them. “The principle that the special law should prevail over the general law, has no application in cases of prosecution of offenders in road accidents under the IPC and MV Act,” it said. — PTI