Measures to protect lives and improve road safety

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Two decree-laws raising penalties for road-death and injury cases and revising criminal case rules cleared the Shura Council yesterday, with members sending both to Parliament’s Speaker to notify the government.

The chamber approved Decree-Law No. 31 of 2025 amending parts of the Penal Code issued under Decree-Law No. 15 of 1976.

The committee rapporteur, Ali Al Aradi, said the measure protects the right to life and bodily safety as core constitutional rights and applies the same punishment to similar acts.

He said the change would help courts deal more precisely with cases of killing or injury by mistake and keep judgments consistent.

Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025, which amends provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure issued under Decree-Law No. 46 of 2002, also passed.

Criminal justice

Al Aradi said the update completes work to modernise criminal justice rules so procedures match the revised Penal Code and the amended Traffic Law.

He added that maintaining the criminal-order system as an early way to close minor cases would ease pressure on courts and speed decisions in straightforward matters, while leaving fair-trial rights intact.

In the debate, Dr Jameela Al Salman backed the Penal Code amendments, saying they rest on a clear legislative view aimed at protecting lives and improving road safety.

“The first key point everyone agrees on is protecting life and entrenching deterrence,” she said.

Deterrence

Al Salman described deterrence as both general, aimed at public behaviour, and specific, aimed at repeat offenders, arguing that this would cut accident rates.

She added that tougher punishments work best when three conditions are met: certainty that the rule will be applied, penalties that fit the offence, and quick enforcement by the authorities.

The lawmaker called for continued follow-up and wider public awareness alongside the legal changes.

Dalal Al Zayed said the higher penalties fit a wider move to deal more firmly with acts that cause serious harm or death.

Approach

She supported the approach of combining fines with custodial terms, or allowing either, leaving the choice to the courts.

On refusal to assist, she said: “The crime is the withholding of assistance despite being able to provide it,” giving the example of a doctor or an ordinary passer-by.

She said the legal dividing line between misdemeanour and felony rests on the elements of the offence and the penalties set by law.

Lina Qasim welcomed bringing Article 342 of the Penal Code into step with the Traffic Law amendments, saying this should help enforcement bodies apply the rules across the different cases set out in the article.

Evidence

She asked how judges would show that a driver had refused to help despite being able to do so, and what evidence would be used.

The lawmaker also queried how the law would treat deaths that occur later in hospital after a crash, and how the new penalties would affect cases still under trial or on appeal.

Legal Affairs Minister Yousif Khalaf said the difference between “sijn” (imprisonment) and “habs” in Bahraini criminal law tracks the kind of offence rather than sentence length.

“Imprisonment is for felonies, while detention is a penalty for misdemeanours,” he said, explaining that although penalties for killing by mistake under the amended Traffic Law have risen, the legislator kept the act classed as a misdemeanour.

He pointed to other Penal Code articles that allow detention terms of up to 10 years while remaining misdemeanours, and said the category is chosen after studying the act itself.

Exception

Khalaf said assigning some of these cases to the High Criminal Court is a written exception in the new text because heavier sentences may reach ten years or more if another aggravating factor applies, allowing a threejudge panel to hear them instead of a single-judge lower criminal court.

On deaths occurring after a delay, he said liability depends on direct causation from the crash, regardless of timing, and that courts rely on technical expertise to assess that link.

He confirmed that offences committed before the amendments will be tried under the law in force at the time, as criminal law does not apply retroactively.

Controls

The Minister also clarified two controls for penalties that combine detention and a fine.

Where the wording allows detention or a fine, the judge is free to choose, keeping criminal orders available for minor cases.

Criminal orders follow a financial scale, he said: sums below BD2,000 may be decided by a public prosecutor at assistant level, while higher amounts are issued by a judge of the Lower Criminal Court.