SUV Driver Fined For Not Wearing Helmet
Everyone and their mothers know that one should wear a helmet when you’re out on the road. Even if you forget your papers, the worst thing that can happen to you is being issued a fine. But without a helmet, not only are you at risk of being fined, but you’re also risking your life. The lives of numerous people have been saved just because they wore this simple piece of headgear. It’s perhaps the most important thing you should have when you’re riding your bike. That’s right. When you’re riding a bike. But in Lucknow, a man was curiously fined for not wearing a helmet while driving a car.
Unless you are someone who is extremely concerned about your safety on the road, or your hero is Ayrton Senna, there isn’t really any reason for you to be wearing a helmet while you’re driving. No law states that a person should wear a helmet while driving. So imagine PK Punhani’s surprise when he was informed that a challan had been issued in his name. A resident of Mahanagar, Punhani is the owner of the hatchback SUV who was handed a challan with the picture of someone else’s motorcycle instead of his own vehicle. The rider in the photograph was indeed not wearing a helmet.
It seems like a bizarre mix-up, but it should be noted that the SUV and the motorcycle share the same registration number, for some reason. The fine was paid by Punhani, despite the obvious disparity. He was however baffled by how, in a place with Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS), such a clear and obvious error took place. The records showed that his car was relatively new, being bought in 2016, which meant that it was in the records of the National Informatics Center (NIC), which in turn is linked to the challan system of the vast city.
While the mystery remains unanswered at the moment, there have been a couple of hypotheses regarding the truth of the situation. It has come to the notice of the lawyer that this might be the result of tampering with the database by hackers. The traffic officials have claimed that these errors took place even after the registration numbers being changed, which could mean that the database isn’t at fault. Raees Akhtar, DCP of traffic has said that he will look into the issue.
