Ramya's family moves against drunk driving

Hyderabad: Six-year-old Rishita, the younger sister of Ramya, stood at the KBR Park with a placard saying ‘Who will return her life?’ on Monday. Her relatives, celebrities, politicians and many others were also there with similar placards to create awareness against drunk driving. Ramya’s family organised a candlelight march and took up the cause of the victims of drunk driving. They demanded strong action against drunk drivers to prevent accidents. “Not only Ramya's family, every family in the city was affected after they came to know about the tragedy.

This should not happen to another family. Our government is very serious on this,” said commercial taxes minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav who attended the march. “Police would be more strict on drunk drivers from now on,” he said. Tollywood actress Lakshmi Manchu said that more awareness about the menace of drunk driving is needed in society.

Ramya’s relatives demanded that the car owner should also be punished so that vehicle owners would not allow underaged children to drive without license. “Our family is shattered. Nobody should be allowed to drive after drinking or without license. No bar should serve alcohol to minors. We must stop this,” said C. Murali Krishna, the uncle of Ramya.

Pubs, bars selling liquor to minors:

Underage drinking is going on unabated in Hyderabad. Most pubs and bars do not ask for ID cards from visitors although the Excise Act bars serving liquor to people aged under 21. Police said that all the engineering students who were in the car that caused the mishap at Banjara Hills were aged under 20 and drunk. Many road mishaps have been caused by drunk minors in the city.

The owners of bars and pubs are not serious about this as there are no strong laws in Telangana. Meanwhile, in Karnataka, an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Bill and a circular of the excise commissioner ensures seven years jail for bar owners if they serve liquor to minors. But, in Hyderabad, the bar owners can get away with just a penalty.

As per Section 36 of the AP Excise act, the person, who served liquor to minors will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 or serve less than two years in jail. After the Ramya tragedy, the police has warned bar and pub owners. “We have send notices to all pubs and bars asking them not to serve alcohol to people under 21. They have been asked to check ID cards before serving liquor,” said DCP A. Venkateswara Rao. Police said they would randomly raid pubs, bars and hookah centres to check if the law is being obeyed.