Irrespective of the speed of the vehicles involved in an accident on the road, the cases lodged always mention reckless driving as the cause.
Penal code 302 (b) mentions death caused by speeding vehicle and this is applied to all road accident related cases.
Other causes like technical glitches can lead to deaths and accidents; while some regard these as clean ‘murder’, the cases filed refrain from using the word.
Lawyers and police say that due to legal limitations, the current complaint is limited to reckless driving/speed.
They feel that if the proposed law is implemented, then people will get justice.
According to Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Committee, between January and June, 3026 persons lost their lives in road accidents.
Another 8,520 persons were injured.
All of these were categorised under a single section — accidents due to reckless driving.
Many relatives of those killed on roads claim that these are murders and should be labelled as such.
Under the penal code, clause 279, if complaints of accidents are proved then the accused will get up to three years imprisonment with labour or a fine between Tk. 1 and 5 thousand or, both.
On the other hand, road penal act 304 (a) talks about death due to negligence. Under this, the accused driver may be handed a prison term of up to three years with or without a fine.
Under the motor vehicle laws, the punishment for death on the road is relatively less stringent. For dangerous driving, the punishment is six months imprisonment or Tk. 500 fine. The licence may also be suspended for a period.
If a driver commits the same offence twice in three years then the punishment may be six months imprisonment or Tk. 1000 as fine. Also, the driving permit will be suspended for a month.
However, there is uncertainty over getting reparations for the affected family, either for an accident or for death on the road.
Many who are wounded in accidents cannot afford to bear the expenses of treatment. On 11 April last, Runi Akhter, a university student, was injured in a road accident.
Her right leg was smashed and treatment had to be carried out in a private hospital at her family’s expense.
Talking on the matter, lawyer Mamun Chowdhury, says: “very little can be done against transport workers; if they want they can paralyse the country.”
Secretary-general of the Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, Mozammel Huq, told Bangla Tribune: “due to limitations in law, murder charges cannot be brought; we demand the issue to be discussed in the proposed transport law.”
This law was supposed to be raised in parliament but wasn’t , he added and claimed that he was getting death threats for wanting justice for people who are killed on the roads.