The new Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) prescribes the harsher punishments for causing death in a hit and run cases.
It treats hit-and-run accident cases as an aggravated form of the offence of causing death by rashness or negligence.
Section 106 of the BNS will replace Section 304A of the IPC.
It punished the causing of death by rash and negligent act that does not amount to culpable homicide.
The existing section provides for a two-year jail term.
First, the Section 106 prescribes a prison term of up to five years, besides a fine, for causing death due to rash or negligent acts;
Second, it provides for reduced criminal liability for registered medical doctors of two years in jail, if death occurred in the course of a medical procedure.
If the person involved in rash and negligent driving “escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a Magistrate soon after the incident”, the imprisonment may extend to 10 years and a fine.