The Chhattisgarh High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports describing incidents of reckless driving and road stunts by affluent youth, including a case in which youngsters reportedly were travelling to a farmhouse, driving negligently, performing stunts from windows and sunroofs, and endangering other road users. The reports emerged in two Hindi dailies. Earlier in 2025, the Court had already addressed similar incidents of road hooliganism and received assurances from the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police that steps were being taken to curb such behavior by those who are socially or financially advantaged.
Hearing the current reports, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru expressed concern that law enforcement action appears to be disproportionately severe against poorer, middle-class individuals, while offenders with affluence, political connections, or muscular influence often escape harsh consequences. The Bench observed that in many cases involving the wealthy or well-connected, the response of the police tends to be lenient: offenses are reduced to minor penalties, vehicles seized are quickly released to owners upon payment of small fines, and serious legal provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 or other muscular laws are not invoked despite the risks to public safety.
According to reports before the Court, after an incident in Masturi, police seized 18 cars and registered offenses under the Motor Vehicles Act, and recommended cancellation of driving licences. But the Court viewed such measures as insufficient; characterizing them as an “eye wash,” rather than deterrents or punishments that would meaningfully prevent future wrongdoing. The Bench directed that the 18 vehicles seized must not be released except with the leave of the Court, indicating that judicial oversight would be required for their release.
The Court also required the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit describing what specific steps have been taken beyond the routine registering of offences: what punitive measures, what measures to deter, and what actions under the new criminal law had been employed. The Court set the matter for further hearing, thereby keeping the matter alive and demanding accountability from law enforcement authorities for how they address road hooliganism by different sections of society.
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