The amended Motor Vehicle Act came into play from the 1st of September this year. Ever since then, there have been numerous cases of huge challans issued to traffic rules violators, some of which were worth more than the cost of the vehicle itself. The traffic police have also become much more alert as well as stricter so as to ensure that road users are following the traffic rules in a proper manner.
The biggest change in the amended MV Act is the increment in fine rates, which have gone up by a fraction of up to 10 times. For the same, there have been various reports of people trying to dodge cops and challans in various ways. A few days back it was reported that a man set fire to his bike after he was issued a huge challan. Now, a woman in Delhi has made headlines for threating cops of committing suicide over a challan. You read that right, folks. Take a look at the video below by Dilli Tak which shows the whole incident unfold.
You may well want to take skip to 8:27 on the timeline to get to the part where the woman threatens the cops by saying she’ll commit suicide. As seen in the video, she committed numerous traffic offences which include talking/listening song on earphone while riding, wearing a helmet without a strap, having a broken number plate and not producing any vehicle-related documents. Not showing documents alone now results in a challan of over Rs. 15,000. During the course of the video, the woman continuously questions the cop over what crime has she committed and upon being told the answer, she reverts back to saying she’s not feeling well.
Moreover, she even tries to threaten the cop by saying she’ll hit him with the helmet when she was stopped by the cop. The cop remained unfazed by her threats to which she threw the helmet to one side of the road. She then starts saying that she’s not feeling well and her whole body is shivering and the cops must let her go because of the same. However, they insist on the fact that she has committed multiple traffic offences and hence will be fined. The woman again starts acting hysterically after this to the point that she even says that the cops are harassing her and she will commit suicide if they keep insisting on issuing a challan.
Going by the offences she committed, she would have been fined Rs 5000 for not producing the driving licence, Rs 5000 for not having the Registration Certificate (RC), and another Rs 3000 for not having any third-party insurance to show. Apart from this, Rs 1000 would be added to the total amount for the helmet. The cops could have also strapped another Rs. 10,000 for air pollution standards violation. The damaged number plate and using earphones while riding would have added to the overall fine by a major sum.
The new Motor Vehicle Act has not been received well by several states in the country who have either postponed its implementation or have reduced the fines. This includes West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka among others. While we won’t comment on whether the MV Acts should be implemented by these states or not, we would definitely like to see it being implemented uniformly without any gender bias.
