An instruction has been issued to all police stations in the city to grant bail on a personal risk bond from the police station to motorists who are arrested for drink-driving, police sources said.
Earlier, a person arrested for drink-driving could be granted bail from the police station in the presence of an advocate who provided a bail bond.
The instruction from Lalbazar was circulated on Friday.
The move came a few days after vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan’s wife Joyeeta Basu Khan alleged that there was an attempt to extort money from her driver on the pretext of “advocate fees” at Pragati Maidan police station where he was taken after his breathalyser test allegedly gave a reading of more than double the permissible limit of alcohol content in his blood.
“All police stations have been asked to grant bail to an offender of drink-driving after verifying his or her identity and taking a personal risk bond. The seized vehicle is to be handed over to the owner of the vehicle on ‘zimma’. It has to be ensured that the person intercepted for drink-driving should not drive the vehicle home after release on personal risk bond,” said an officer.
A “zimma” is a personal bond or a written declaration taking responsibility for the vehicle involved in an alleged offence before taking it home.
According to the rulebook, if someone is prosecuted under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which deals with the offence of drink driving, he or she is taken to the local police station, arrested and then could be granted bail from the police station itself in the presence of an advocate who provides the bail bond.
The number of cases where the offender is produced in court is few, an officer said. Basu Khan had alleged that officers of Pragati Maidan police station introduced a lawyer named Raunak Shaw to her driver after his arrest and asked him to pay the lawyer Rs 6,000 as his fee for bail formalities.
“As per the new instruction, we would no longer need a lawyer to complete the bail bond formalities at the police station... This will eliminate any chances of suspicion or allegation against the police that they are trying to extort money by assigning a specific lawyer,” said an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner.
