In early January 2024, truck, bus and tanker drivers in several Indian states went on strike against the hit-and-run provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the new criminal code that had just been enacted. Scroll’s report of January 2, 2024, written on the strike’s second day, described road and highway blockades, long queues at petrol pumps and warnings of local fuel shortages. The drivers’ objection is clearly documented. The fuel concern is documented as a set of warnings and claims, not as a confirmed nationwide shortage.
Why drivers objected to the hit-and-run provision
The provision Scroll identified as the flashpoint set a 10-year prison term and a ₹7 lakh penalty for hit-and-run cases. Transport associations and drivers said the severity of those penalties could expose drivers to harassment. Scroll’s account of the earlier law, which is a summary rather than a quotation of the statute, is set out below so readers can see the change in the terms the report used.
The penalty comparison
| Point | Earlier Indian Penal Code provisions (as Scroll summarised them) | BNS hit-and-run provision (as Scroll summarised it) |
|---|---|---|
| Prison term | Up to two years | 10 years |
| Fine | More than ₹1,000, or both imprisonment and fine | ₹7 lakh penalty |
| Extreme cases | Police could report them under the murder provision | Not stated in the Scroll report |
The gap between the two regimes was the core of the complaint. Scroll’s summary should be checked against the statute text or legal advice before it is relied on for any individual case.
Drivers’ fear of harassment
Happy Sidhu, identified by Scroll as president of the All Punjab Truck Operators’ Union, called the law a “black law” and said it could destroy truckers in Punjab. The concern reported by the association and drivers was less about the offence itself than about how the heavier penalties might be used against them in practice.
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Where the protest was reported
Scroll reported the strike in seven states, with road and highway blockades among the forms of protest:
- Bihar
- Chhattisgarh
- Punjab
- Haryana
- Maharashtra
- Madhya Pradesh
- Himachal Pradesh
The strike was described as involving truck, bus and tanker drivers together, and the report presented it as a nationwide action. The list above reflects the states Scroll named, not a complete count of every place where drivers stopped work.
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Fuel queues and supply warnings
The fuel element of the story rested on three kinds of evidence: observed queues, local warnings and claims about vehicles off the road. Each carries a different level of certainty.
Queues at petrol pumps
Scroll reported long queues at petrol pumps in several states amid fears of shortages. Queues driven by fear of a shortage can appear before any actual supply gap, so the report’s evidence on queues shows public alarm, not a measured fall in fuel stocks.
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The Mumbai vehicle figure
Scroll reported that the All India Motor Transport Congress said over 70% of 1.2 lakh trucks, tempos and other heavy vehicles in the Mumbai metropolitan region remained off the roads on Monday, 1 January 2024. The association also said this was likely to disrupt the distribution of fuel and other essentials. Both the percentage and the vehicle count are the association’s figures as relayed by Scroll. The article did not verify them independently, and the distribution effect is a forecast rather than an observed outcome.
A local warning in Aurangabad
An association of petrol-station operators in Aurangabad warned that local pumps might run out of fuel by Tuesday. Scroll quoted Aqeel Abbas, identified as the association’s secretary: “Drivers of tankers that carry fuel from Panewadi [in Nashik] have called for [an] agitation and have stopped filling fuel”. The report also said Maharashtra’s government directed police to ensure petrol and diesel supply continued uninterrupted. That direction shows the state treated supply as a policing priority at the time; the report does not say whether the direction changed the outcome at any station.
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What the report does and does not establish
- Established: drivers, bus operators and tanker drivers protested the BNS hit-and-run provision in early January 2024, with blockades in multiple states.
- Established: drivers and transport groups feared the penalties would expose drivers to harassment.
- Reported as concern, not confirmed: queues at petrol pumps, a local pump warning in Aurangabad and a predicted disruption to fuel distribution.
- Attributed claims: the 70% figure and the 1.2 lakh vehicle count, which came from the All India Motor Transport Congress.
- Not established by this report: a confirmed nationwide fuel shortage, how long the strike lasted, its final economic effects, how the penalty provision was later interpreted, or current fuel conditions.
Anyone looking for how the strike ended or how the provision has been applied since should consult reporting from later dates. This account describes the situation as it was reported in the first days of the strike.
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