Once again, the UP Police has initiated measures against vehicles displaying various caste stickers, following the directives of CM Yogi Adityanath. The police have commenced issuing challans to individuals who have affixed caste, religious, or influential government position-related stickers on their vehicles, including both cars and motorcycles.
In Aligarh, the UP Police undertook a specialized operation, erecting barricades across the city to intercept and inspect such vehicles. Numerous vehicle owners received challans amounting to Rs 2,000 for their non-compliance with the regulations. Similar enforcement campaigns took place in Ghaziabad and NOIDA as well. As per the police, approximately 2,300 challans were handed out to vehicle owners for violating these guidelines.
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The regulation, any vehicle that displays words or symbols related to caste identities like “Kshatriya, Yadav, Gurjar, Jat, Brahmin” and religious identifiers like and stickers like “Hindu, Thakur, 786” and mores. The police are booking the violators under the Section 179(1) of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act.
“Over the past 10 days, we have collectively issued a total of 1,542 challans to vehicles displaying inscriptions related to caste, religion, and other inappropriate content. Our response doesn’t conclude with this specific campaign; we will continue to issue challans whenever we encounter such markings on vehicles,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in Ghaziabad.
“A fine of Rs 1,000 is imposed for the display of caste or religion-based text or symbols on a vehicle. If such markings are found on the number plate, the penalty escalates to Rs 5,000. As per the stipulations of the Motor Vehicle Act, any content other than the vehicle number is considered illegal on the number plate,” said Anil Kumar Yadav Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) fo Gautam Budh Nagar.
Drive against caste stickers started back in 2020
In 2020, Mukesh Chandra, the Additional Transport Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh, issued a notification to all the Regional Transport Officers in the state regarding a new order. This order strictly prohibits the display of caste names, surnames, or any influential positions like Mayor or Police on vehicles. The Uttar Pradesh Police initiated the enforcement of this new order earlier this week, resulting in the issuance of a Rs 5,000 challan to a government official who had parked his car at a government office.
The authorities officially announced the new order on December 24, 2020. Since then, law enforcement officers have issued numerous challans across the state. The first reported incident occurred in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where an individual received a challan of Rs 500. The police charged him under Section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Authorities clarified that repeating such an offense would lead to a fine of Rs 1,500. Notably, the vehicle of the Regional Medical Officer (RMO) also had stickers on the registration plate that violated the new regulations.
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