Shillong, Jan 5: Amidst the state-wide strike by the tourist taxi associations over the stringent punishment in hit-and-run cases under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the law which has replaced the over 160-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Assam tourist cabbies have decided to resume their services from Saturday morning onwards.
The tourist cabs will ferry passengers between Guwahati and Shillong passengers from 5 AM onwards on Saturday. This was confirmed by representatives of All Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Drivers Association on Friday evening.
While the exact cause for the cabbies to call-off the strike is not known, it has brought relief to the anxious travellers in the city.
Earlier, the tourist taxis had called for a 48-hour strike beginning Friday morning across the state against the penal provisions in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which are yet to be implemented.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, in December 2023. The IPC was the official criminal code of India since independence, inherited from British India. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 are three landmark bills that relate to the criminal justice system. These bills are intended to ensure victim-centric justice.
Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) treats hit-and-run accidents as a more serious form of causing death by negligence or rashness. It sentences a person involved in hit-and-run cases with upto 10 years in prison and/or a fine for drivers who cause the death of a person by rash and negligent driving and flees the scene. However, if a person reports the incident of death by careless driving to a police officer or magistrate immediately after the incident, their sentencing can be reduced to 5 years.
Truckers and driver associations all over India are currently protesting against these stringent provisions, fearing they could be used maliciously and wrongfully.
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