Sr cop pays fine for auto driver who turned up with son’s piggy bank cash

Nagpur: Senior police inspector (traffic) Ajay Malviya, in-charge of Sitabuldi traffic zone, doesn’t fit into the usual image of strict, no-nonsense cops. The kind-hearted Malviya could not bear to see an autorickshaw driver paying a Rs2,000 fine using coins from his son’s piggy bank, and paid the amount himself. He also advised the autowallah to stick to traffic rules before letting him go.
The traffic police had fined autorickshaw driver Rohit Khadse for parking his vehicle in a no-parking zone at the busy Rani Jhansi Square on August 8. The cops on duty had also discovered that Khadse was a habitual defaulter in violating traffic rules. On August 7, the Sitabuldi traffic police had issued a challan to Khadse for parking his autorickshaw in a no-parking zone and imposed a Rs200 fine.
He had not paid fines for earlier challans too, including one issued on December 30, 2020, by Indora traffic zone for driving autorickshaw without uniform and licence. The fine amount was Rs700. The fine amount for the three challans added up to Rs2,000.
However, Khadse couldn’t pay the fine and hence traffic cops detained his autorickshaw and parked it at the Sitabuldi traffic zone office premises in Civil Lines.
Khadse drives the autorickshaw by paying Rs6,000 monthly rent, and it is the only source of income for his four-member family including wife and two children.
Without the autorickshaw, Khadse was staring at a total loss of income. A distraught Khadse was finding it difficult to manage the situation. Just then, his five-year-old son Rehansh approached him with his piggy bank and offered him all the money to pay the fine.
“I broke the piggy bank and counted the coins. To my great surprise, it was around Rs2,000,” he said.
On August 10, Khadse went to Sitabuldi traffic zone to pay the fine. The traffic office personnel objected to receiving the fine in coins. Khadse then approached Malviya with a plastic carry bag full of coins and expressed his willingness to pay the fine to regain possession of the detained autorickshaw.
Malviya was curious why Khadse had brought the fine amount in coins. It was then that Khadse narrated the entire story to the senior cop.
The story melted Malviya’s heart and he paid the fine amount from his own pocket, returning the piggy bank money to Rehansh. Before allowing Khadse to leave, Malviya warned him to mend his ways and strictly adhere to traffic rules.