Kerala traffic police goof up: Car owner fined for not wearing helmet properly
PremiumA man from Kerala owns only a Maruti Alto car, but he received an unpleasant surprise recently -- a challan of ₹500 from the state's traffic police
In an apparent goof-up the Kerala Traffic Police has fined a car owner ₹500 for not wearing a helmet properly. According to the news agency PTI, Ajith A is the victim of the police's error. Ajith owns only a Maruti Alto car, but he received an unpleasant surprise recently -- a challan of ₹500 from the Kerala Traffic Police for "driving or causes or allows a motorcycle to be driven by wearing a protective headgear not securely fastened to the head of the wearer (helmet) (chin strap)".
This is what the challan stated and as proof of the same, the challan shows two people riding a bike with the pillion rider not wearing a helmet. At the same time, the challan also indicates that the vehicle class is 'motor car' and the registration number is that of Ajith's car -- KL21D9877.
The goof-up seems to have occurred as the registration of the motorbike, an image of which is attached to the challan appears to be KL21D9811. However, Ajith said that he has decided to file a complaint with the Motor Vehicles Department to address the issue.
On the other hand, police said it could be the result of a clerical or typographical error when the registration number was being entered into the system.