₹500 fine on judicial officer’s vehicle sparks row in Bihar

A challan of ₹500 issued to a vehicle of a judicial officer in Motihari, East Champaran, allegedly for parking it in a restricted area has snowballed into a controversy, with the Bihar Judicial Service Association (BJSA) writing to the Director General of Police (DGP), Bihar, that it was done “wrongly on the basis of a social media post, while the vehicle was elsewhere”.

The judges were ostensibly irked by the local media coverage of “fine on a judicial officer” through headlines as “police ne padhaya judge ko kanoon ka paath”.

The BJSA has sought a thorough probe into the matter.

“While the association upholds the rule of law and condemns any misconduct by judicial officers, the circumstances surrounding this case raise serious concerns. The timing and location mentioned in the challan do not align with the actual location of the judicial officer’s vehicle, which is equipped with GPS. It appears the Superintendent of Police acted hastily, administering the fine solely on a social media post featuring a still photograph, which could have been altered or doctored. This decision was made without verifying the accuracy of the post, which is a crucial error,” says the letter from the association secretary Ajit Kumar Singh, who is also the district and sessions judge, Gaya.

The letter says that “the source of the controversy was a Facebook post that not only challenged Motihari Police to impose a fine on the judicial officer’s vehicle, but also included derogatory remarks about judges from Uttar Pradesh, and specifically criticized the officer for allegedly violating the law”.

“Instead of dismissing the inflammatory content, Motihari Police reacted inappropriately and hastily imposed a fine based solely on this unverified media post. Furthermore, it is perplexing that the incident was portrayed in various media outlets as an act of valour by the Motihari Police. The Superintendent of Police, Mr. Swarn Parbhat, was shown as having “taught a lesson to the judicial officer,” with some reports even suggesting he had consulted with the Principal District & Sessions Judge of Champaran before issuing the fine,” the letter says.

The secretary has written that “imposing a fine under the Motor Vehicle Act based on a social media post containing still photograph of vehicle without verification is highly inappropriate and seems to be aimed at gaining publicity and projecting the SP as supercop”.

On April 10, the traffic police had issued a challan of ₹500 against a judicial magistrate’s car that was wrongly parked on the main road in Motihari town of East Champaran district. The action was taken after someone took a photo of the car with its number and posted it on a social media site, tagging Motihari police.

Taking cognizance of this post, superintendent of police (SP), Swarn Prabhat, talked to the district and sessions judge, Devraj Tripathi, and ordered the issuance of a challan against the car. The car was parked on the main road wrongly, and causing a lot of problems for commuters and pedestrians. “As soon as this matter came to my notice, I contacted the district judge of Motihari, and after this, a challan was issued against the car,” he said.

The SP, however, clarified that the car belonged to the judicial magistrate, but its driver had parked it in the no-parking area, violating the traffic rules.