COMMENTS

I might have passed this over as a routine risk that women in Delhi live with. But now I think the story should be told, especially after Nirbhaya's friend has revealed that none of the 50-odd auto-rickshaws at the Saket malls agreed to take Nirbhaya and him to their destination. If one of them had, they wouldn't have taken that deadly bus and Nirbhaya might have been alive.

- - - Suddenly the driver whipped out his cellphone, turned around, and clicked our picture. His gruff voice turned menacing: "Tu complaint to kar, mai batata hun (You just try filing a complaint, I'll show you what I can do.)" An argument followed and I called the police control room at 100.

- - - I informed 100 that the driver of the auto-rickshaw with the registration number 'DL 1RM 9979' had abused us, and on protesting, had taken our pictures and threatened us with dire consequences. The voice at the other end gave me another number - 27854799 - and said that the area I was in came under the jurisdiction of the police who would attend to my call.

- - - I know I live in a very unsafe city.

For the full report in the ToI, click here.

There have been equally threatening incidents reported in Bangalore also. The difference here besides is that, unlike in Delhi, you'll not be able to read the registration number even, since it will invariably be written in Kannada, which even half the police force in the state can't read readily since there are no defined standards either. This makes for a more dangerous situation here than in Delhi even.

Now, while rule-50, sub-rule-2 and proviso-D of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, specifically states that the letters on vehicle number plates should be in English and the numerals in Arabic (as the regular 1,2,3 - - is identified as, and which is what you have on the currency notes also, readily understood even by the least literate of our countrymen), it is merrily being breached by all kinds of vehicles (at least in Bangalore), including those belonging to government departments. While the Transport Dept (through the RTO) is supposed to ensure compliance at the time of the registration of the vehicles, and at the time of the annual licence renewal in the case of commercial vehicles, and the Traffic Police is also empowered to enforce this (as admitted by the City Police Commissioner, pursuant to an RTI exercise - check here for details), both are shirking the responsibility, and trying to pass the buck onto each other.

Going about with number-plates in Kannada (alone) is plainly to allow for anonimity for ill-intentioned drivers (read this to learn more), under the cover of chauvinism, which in itself is bad enough. The Nirbhaya incident has once again highlighted the need for zero tolernce on such aspects.

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The following was the response I received from Ramani Panchapakesan to the above post, through ToI:

I am glad you brought out this illegality of writing number plates in regional languages. It is seen in quite a few states. Police simply ignore such illegalities because, in most of the cases, the said vehicles belong to the irresponsible political big-wigs or their chelas. If governments do not take action against such vehicles and impound them, then public, civil society and NGO's should take up this issue and bring them to book. Please farward your letter and my response to as many people as possible.

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Who is Ramani Panchapakesan?

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The efforts of the Bangalore traffic police and Transport Department to promote the use of Vehicle Licence Display System seem to be bearing fruit, as the offices charged with distributing these display systems have been flooded with private transport operators since the notification was made.

- - - However, with the recent national outrage over issues of passenger security in private transport vehicles after the Delhi gangrape case, transport operators this time have not raised any objections.

“Everyone has accepted the rule and the process of implementation is progressing smoothly. The offices of the DCP East and West are the nodal offices to hand out these display documents and the offices are crowded almost everyday with requests,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dr M A Saleem.

For the full report in the New Indian Express, click here

Going by the same logic, why isn't the Traffic police similarly enforcing strict compliance of the M V Act with regard to display of registration number plates too? Don't they consider it as important, if not more?

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Constable G Srinivasu was on his usual rounds when he noticed the Scorpio SUV with a suspicious numberplate bearing KA 04-S-5515. Srinivasu knew that the 'S' series is normally not allotted by the transport department to four-wheelers but to two-wheelers. As he stopped the vehicle, Dinesh, the driver, pleaded with him to spare him. The constable took Dinesh to the police station. He told police that the documents were missing from the vehicle. But slowly Dinesh opened up and confessed that the actual number of the vehicle was AP 04-S 5515 (In AP, the series is different). Soon police found that they had stumbled on a murder case.

For the full report in the ToI, click here

The significance of having number plates made out strictly in accordance with the M V Act shows out clearly here. If the number plates were made out in Kannada or Telugu, no Srinivasu or anybody would have had any room for suspicion, and the murder case would have remained unresolved.

Need anybody say anything more in the matter?

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