Noida police fines car owners over caste and religious stickers on CM’s directions

Noida traffic police, on the directions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, has started penalising vehicle owners displaying religion and caste stickers on their vehicles, senior officers carrying out the drive said, adding that displaying such stickers and symbols on vehicles could distract drivers, besides leading to law and order problems.

The police started the drive on August 11 after getting directions from Lucknow to penalise those displaying caste and religious stickers, using tinted films on car windows, and driving without a licence.

Prashant Kumar, special DG (law & order), UP, said officers across the state had been asked to run drives and take action against vehicles with such stickers.

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, no sticker/message or anything else could be written or pasted anywhere on a car or two-wheeler, including the registration plate, said GS Chauhan, advocate, Lucknow high court .

Section 179 (1) of the Motor Vehicles Act prohibits the use of caste and religion specific stickers and writings on vehicles. The law reads, “whoever wilfully disobeys any direction lawfully given by any person or authority empowered under this Act to give such direction, or obstructs any person or authority in the discharge of any functions which such person or authority is required or empowered under this Act to discharge, shall, if no other penalty is provided for the offence be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees”.

Section 179(1) is a residuary penalty clause which implies that this clause puts an obligation on the party at fault to pay compensation for any contravention they make in relation to the act or rule, regulation, or notification, said senior traffic officials.

According to Noida traffic police, since the drive began, they have fined 1,073 people for displaying caste and religion specific stickers, 443 for using black film on car windows and 568 for driving without a licence.

“We will continue this drive in the coming days and have instructed all traffic inspectors to keep taking strict action against traffic rule violators,” said deputy Commissioner of police (traffic) Anil Kumar Yadav.

“The drive was to be held from August 11 to August 20, but as traffic police got a fair response, it has been extended by one more week,” said Saurav Shrivastava, assistant commissioner of police (traffic).

Police said earlier, whenever car owners are stopped over the stickers, they make bizarre excuses to keep the stickers on and try to protest by arguing that since they have the mandatory high security number plate, they can also add stickers of their choice.

“Before the drive, people used to misbehave with traffic police when asked to remove the stickers, but as we received a good response from media and social media during the drive, motorists have become more aware and are ready to comply,” said traffic inspector CP Mishra.

For displaying caste and religious symbols, car owners are fined ₹1,000 and ₹5,000 for tinted number plates,” he said.

“The fine for black film on car windows is ₹2,500 for the first time, and ₹5,000 or more for a second offence,” said Mishra.

Ashutosh Singh, station house officer (Traffic), said, “The drive is being conducted during non peak hours, as the main priority during peak hours is to clear traffic congestion .”

Senior traffic officers said the number of fines issued has doubled since last year.

At least 722,544 fines were issued for various violations in the city from January 1 to August 15 this year, as compared to 361,272 fines issued during the same period last year, said police on Tuesday, adding that the most penalised violations were riding without helmets, parking in ‘no parking’ areas, and driving in the wrong lane/side.

In 2023, police collected ₹4.43 crore in fines, whereas in 2021, we collected ₹2.21 crore in fines. A total of 8,466 vehicles were seized between January 1 and August 15, as compared to 4,233 vehicles seized during the same period last year, showed traffic data.

The data further showed that traffic police penalised 294,896 people for riding without helmets this year (till August) while 147,448 people were fined the last year during the same period. A total of 135,040 motorists were fined for no parking in 2023 against 67,520 people fined during last year till August. As many as 74,814 drivers were fined for driving/riding on the wrong lane in the first eight months of 2023, as opposed to 37,407 fined for the offence in 2022 during the same period.

Anurag Kulshrestha, advisor to Gautam Budh Nagar’s road safety cell and president of TRAX, an NGO, said, “Displaying caste and religion specific stickers can increase cases of road rage, and traffic police should also fine people, who display police, doctors, and press, etc, as people mostly affix these stickers because they want some special treatment.”

“The drive should not be temporary and such offenders must be penalised throughout the year.” said Kulshrestha.