Transport & road rules · Original study
Section 185: Drunken driving
Other language: हिंदी
Understand the alcohol threshold, the separate drug offence, possible punishment and why a challan payment is not the whole process.
Section 185 covers driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle. Its alcohol limb requires alcohol exceeding 30 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, detected by a breath analyser or another test including a laboratory test. This is a blood-alcohol threshold, not a number of drinks. The statute does not turn an estimated drink count into permission to drive; amount consumed, timing and a person's physiology cannot be replaced by a roadside guess.
The drug limb is different: being under the influence of a drug to an extent that makes the person incapable of exercising proper control over the vehicle. The reviewed English edition's explanation defines drug separately from alcohol and includes specified narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Do not apply the alcohol's numerical threshold to every intoxicant or assume a prescription answers whether proper control was possible.
For a first offence, the central text provides imprisonment up to six months, a fine of ₹10,000, or both. For a second or subsequent offence it provides imprisonment up to two years, a fine of ₹15,000, or both. These are the section's punishments, not a nationwide on-the-spot settlement tariff. Section 185 is absent from section 200's list of offences that may be compounded under that section. A receipt or online payment should not be treated as proof that every court or licensing proceeding has ended.
Sections 203 and 204 address breath and laboratory tests, including hospital-patient safeguards. Section 205 says a refusal or failure to provide a specimen may, unless reasonable cause is shown, support prosecution evidence or rebut defence evidence about the person's condition; it does not say refusal automatically proves guilt. Under section 206(4), a licence seized for a suspected section 185 offence is sent to the licensing authority for section 19 proceedings, and its temporary acknowledgement does not authorise driving. Read the notice, test record and licence document as separate parts of the process.
Fictional example
Fictional example: Arun receives a test record stating 42 mg per 100 ml and a document acknowledging seizure of his licence. He should distinguish the test evidence, the court's determination under section 185 and the licensing proceedings. The acknowledgement alone does not permit him to drive.
What not to assume
No drink-count calculator or clearance to drive is provided. Court orders, licence restrictions and applicable state notifications require separate checking. This original guide follows the reviewed English edition. The Hindi source phrases the fine amounts differently; compare both statutory sources.
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Original educational explanations, not individual legal advice. Hindi guides are not statutory translations. Banaka is not an official or certified edition; check State rules, notifications and judicial interpretation separately. Government reference · Edition: 2026-08-15 · Source checked: 2026-10-02.