Stringent law needed to curb menace of wheeling on public roads: Karnataka High Court
Taking note of the alarming rise in incidents of wheeling, a motorcycle stunt, on public roads, the High Court of Karnataka has said that it is the duty of the State and its law enforcement agencies to legislate necessary legal provisions and to take stringent measures to suppress this perilous activity by plugging the loophole in the law.
A plain reading of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Indian Penal Code, 1860, it is found that the existing statutory provisions are not adequate for enforcement agencies to effectively curb the menace of 'wheeling', the court said while pointing out that perhaps, at the time of enacting these laws, the legislators did not foresee or specifically contemplate that a two-wheeler would be driven on the hind wheel alone, and hence no express penal provision was envisaged to advert the said mischief.
Justice V. Srishananda made these observations while refusing to grant bail to Arbaz Khan, 29, a resident of Gangavati in Koppal district, who was arrested on the charge of manhandling the police who tried to stop him and his accomplices while they were indulging in wheeling on a public road.
No specific provisions
'At present, such acts are booked within the ambit of the general offences of reckless or negligent driving. However, it is to be noted that the absence of a specific and necessary provision has resulted in a legislative vacuum, affecting the efficacy of law enforcement agencies in curbing the menace of wheeling, as the offence of reckless driving is bailable in nature,' the court observed.
The court said, 'It [wheeling] is a trending menace in the public road which not only endangers the rider and pillion rider of the motorcycle, but also general public at large'.
Not acts of bravado
It is also pertinent to note that act of wheeling, initially confined to urban areas on sufficiently wide and arterial roads, has extended its tentacles even to rural areas, the court said, while pointing out that the 'younger generation riders of the motorcycle are under the misconception that the act of wheeling is bravado and indulge in such perilous stunts being unaware of the grave risks involved in the said act'.
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