Islamabad:
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Interior approved a significant change on Tuesday, declaring Section 320 of the PPC as non-accessible in cases where a person dies due to reckless driving.
The committee met at the House of Parliament with Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz in the President. The Committee unanimously adopted the amendment to the law, which ensures that accused drivers involved in fatal accidents due to negligence cannot secure bail.
The proposal was part of the criminal amendment, Bill 2024, presented by PPP legislator Sharmila Farooqui, which emphasized that 128 people died in traffic accidents in Islamabad last year.
“Accidents do not discriminate between the poor and the rich,” said committee member Qadir Patel. “Even God is mistaken, but the law must maintain justice.” Members supported the amendment to PPC section 320.
Section 320 PPC deals with the penalty for ‘qatl-i-khata’, a form of criminal murder, by rash or negligent driving. However, the Committee kept section 319, which also addressed ‘Qatl-I-Khata’, unchanged.
The committee also approved the amendment to Terrorism 2024 without any resistance. Meanwhile, the CRPC amendment proposal 2025 was postponed to the next session at the Ministry of the law.
In particular, no PTI supported members attended the meeting. In the midst of PTI’s call for protests in Islamabad, Prime Minister of Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry declared that only eight people were detained. He criticized PTI’s management for not following the right procedures.
When he talked to journalists after the meeting, Chaudhry said PTI had applied for permission for protest via E -email but never followed up on it. He added that the provincial authorities reached out to PTI’s local management but did not receive any answer.
