Can you be charged with drunk driving if you only smell of alcohol?

The Uttarakhand High Court has ruled that the smell of alcohol alone is not enough to establish a charge of drunk driving or culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The court said the prosecution must produce scientific evidence, such as a blood test or breath analyser report, to prove that the driver's alcohol level exceeded the legal limit prescribed under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The observation came while Justice Alok Mehrah heard a criminal revision petition filed by Amar Singh, who challenged the charges framed against him following a fatal road accident.

What was the case?

According to the case, Singh was driving a jeep carrying passengers from Badrinath Dham to Chamoli when the vehicle allegedly went out of control and overturned. The accident claimed the life of one passenger and left several others injured.


After the accident, a medical examination recorded the smell of alcohol on Singh's breath. However, investigators neither collected his blood sample nor conducted a breath analyser test to determine his blood alcohol concentration.

What did the petitioner argue?

The petitioner's lawyer argued that Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act allows a conviction for drunk driving only when scientific evidence proves that the alcohol content in a person's blood exceeds 30 mg per 100 ml.

The defence also claimed the accident was caused by a mechanical failure rather than negligent driving, stating that the jeep's front tyre had burst, causing the vehicle to lose control.

What did the High Court say?

The High Court noted that while the medical report mentioned the smell of alcohol, the prosecution failed to produce any scientific evidence proving that the petitioner was legally intoxicated.

The court held that, without a blood test or breath analyser report, the legal requirements for framing a charge under Section 105 of the BNS (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) were not met.

Accordingly, the court partly set aside the Sessions Court's order by quashing the charge under Section 105 of the BNS. However, it allowed the charges under Sections 125(a) (negligent act endangering human life or personal safety), 125(b) (endangering the life or safety of others due to negligence), and 281 (rash and negligent driving on a public way) of the BNS to continue.With PTI Inputs