Women too drink, drive, Mumbai cops realise

The move follows the death on Tuesday of two persons in a taxi that was hit by a vehicle driven by an allegedly inebriated woman lawyer, Janhavi Gadkar.

A police review of its campaign showed that of the 15,000-odd cases in which drunk drivers were booked last year, just 12 were women. This year, only one was arrested and convicted of the 4,261 cases recorded between January 1 and April 30.

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“Normally in our society, and I would repeat normally, the male gets drunk and asks his wife to drive for him,” said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic). “We will now check without discrimination,” he added.

Officers manning roads in Bandra, Andheri and Colaba, three major party destinations in Mumbai, said personnel drink and drive, police realise have often shown “reluctance” to check women drivers. They usually “look at her face, especially her eyes, make her talk for five minutes, and watch her pauses”.

Till now, a woman driver was checked only rarely, and that too, very cursorily. “She may be asked to walk in a straight line… (or) asked to blow into the breath equipment after an alert was relayed to the control room,” said an official.

Constable Megha Gosavi, 36, last took part in an anti-drink drive campaign on December 31, 2014. Her role was then confined to paperwork. From Thursday night she will be on shifts with her male colleagues to monitor woman drivers.