Cop ‘drunk on duty’ at PM’s brother’s home gets 1-year jail term

On November 15, 2016, Tomar went to Somabhai’s residence for a “surprise inspection” where Parmar was found in an “inebriated” condition.

Tomar took the constable to the Ranip police station and also registered a complaint against him under various provisions of the Prohibition Act. The constable was arrested and was released on bail following which he was put under the criminal trial.

During the course of the trial, the court examined 12 witnesses and various documentary evidence including a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report according to which the blood sample of Parmar showed presence of 0.0747 per cent presence of ethyl alcohol which is more than the permissible limit of 0.05 per cent ethyl alcohol under the Gujarat Prohibition Act.

The court convicted Parmar while observing that the prosecution had “proved the case beyond reasonable doubt”.

While pronouncing the sentence, the court observed, “The offense committed by the accused in this case is against society and the objective behind enacting the (Prohibition) law is to deter people from consuming alcohol. Prohibition has been imposed in Gujarat because drinking alcohol is a social evil because of which many times people living in the vicinity of the drinker have to face mental distress. Therefore, the offence levelled against the accused can be deemed to be of serious nature.”