Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Traffic Police have booked 4.7 lakh cases against those bike riders who had not been wearing helmets during the lockdown period.
“Since the checking of the people who have venturing out during the lockdown period has been intensified, these cases have come to light,” a senior police official told siasat.com.
The police have also been asking the violators to pay penalty.
But public sources said that the police have extraordinarily harsh during the pandemic. They said that at times police were seen punishing the violators by making them stand for hours, forcing them to do sit ups and at times thrashing them brutally.
The sources said that the City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar has specifically asked his men to be polite and not break the law, some personnel are over ruling his instructions and punishing the public. In some cases policemen have entered house to thrash young men who they perceived and law breakers.
“There are approximately 4, 74,000 ‘no-helmet’ cases booked until Saturday against the violators. Out of which 83,000 cases were booked by direct contact enforcement that means on the check posts while rest where by the digitals means,” Anil Kumar, Additional Commissioner of City Traffic Police, said.
Wearing of helmet has been made compulsory since February 2017. For the violators a fine of Rs. 200 is imposed under the ACT 129/177. On the other hand, the police had started implementing the ‘pillion rider helmet’ rule from the lockdown phase 2.
Those bike owners who have been caught not wearing helmets said that they could not buy the gadget because the market is closed for over a month.
According to sources, in a few lanes and by lanes in the city where helmets are still being sold but at very high prices
Nihad Amani