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It was held by the Kerala High Court that in order to be punished for Drunken Driving under section 185 (a) of the Motor Vehicles Act, the accused must have been subjected to a breath analyzer test or a blood test in a laboratory and his blood must contain alcohol exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml.
In the present case, it was claimed by the prosecution that the accused drove his car in a negligent and rash manner which was dangerous to human life, and crashed his car into another car and caused injuries to other passengers. The accused was arrested and on his medical examination, he was charged under section 185 of the MV Act because the doctor opined that “the petitioner smelled of alcohol.” On this sheer basis, the accused was prosecuted. The accused challenged in the court that section 185 can be attracted only when alcohol content is detected through a breath analyzer test or blood test wherein alcohol content in the blood was exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml.
The Kerala High Court relied on the judgment in the case of Simon v State of Kerala [2014(3) KLT 782] and held that prior to the 2019 amendment, it was mandatory to determine alcohol content through the breath analyzer test. However, after the amendment, alcohol content can be determined through a breath analyzer or any other laboratory test. Therefore, the court held that the proceedings under section 185 (a) of the MV Act cannot be maintained only on the basis of the opinion of a doctor without testing alcohol content in the blood and just because he “smells of alcohol.”
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