Cops SEIZE Ford Mustang, Range Rover & BMW 7-Series luxury saloon for ‘driving without documents’

The Gujarat Police seems to be taking exemplary action against the law breakers in high-end, luxury cars. Owners of a Ford Mustang muscle car, a BMW 7-Series luxury saloon and a Range Rover luxury SUV had their vehicles seized by the Ahmedabad Police for offences such as ‘driving without documents’ and using faulty number plates. The Ahmedabad Police even shared images of the seized cars on the official Twitter handle of the force, warning motorists that everyone is equal before law, and that they would not hesitate to bust any vehicle for rule breaking.

Usually, high-end luxury cars aren’t stopped for ‘document checks’ or other routine checks by cops in most parts of India. This makes owners of these cars overconfident, with many of them flouting road rules and breaking laws with impunity. With cops now sending out such a strong message, even luxury car owners are likely to fall in line.

But why don’t cops fine/stop luxury car owners?

Fear, fear of the unknown. If you own a high-end new) luxury car in India, you have to be rich, and most people who’re rich are very connected to politicians or high ranking government officials. Many luxury car owners in India are powerful/influential enough to get cops transferred for merely stopping their cars for traffic offences. This makes many police officials fearful of stopping such cars as they don’t like ‘taking chances’.

For the cops (mainly the constabulary) to confidently stop traffic offenders in high-end cars, the offence has to be big enough or they need enough protection from higher police officials. By stopping luxury car owners and seizing their rides for flouting the law, cops in Ahmedabad have sent out a very strong message. We hope that more police officials across the country take note, and book traffic offenders, irrespective of the car they’re in.

Tampered number plates and not carrying documents!

A lot of vehicle owners in India choose to ‘personalize’ their vehicles’ number plates. While personalizing, the prescribed font with which the numbers and letters have to be embossed, and the size of the number plate itself, is usually not adhered to. This makes the number plate faulty/tampered/illegal. Similarly, not carrying the documents in the vehicle (including the registration certificate, emission compliance certificate, insurance and a valid driver’s license) gives cops authorities to stop and fine the vehicle. In extreme cases, cops may even seize the vehicle if they feel it’s stolen.  The union transport ministry has made carrying documents of a vehicle in electronic form (through the Digilocker app) legal. So, that’s another alternative available for vehicle owners unwilling to carry the documents of their vehicle in paper form.