However, all this is not always perfect and sometimes digitization becomes unwise. Recently, a fresh case has come to light, where the Kerala Traffic Police has issued a challan to a car driver for not wearing a helmet properly.
The incident is in reference to a challan, originally issued for two men traveling on a motorcycle, with the person sitting behind not wearing a helmet. But the challan issued contained the registration number of a Maruti Suzuki Alto owned by a person named Ajith A.
The vehicle class is mentioned in the challan as ‘motor car’, which should have been a motorcycle or a two-wheeler. The challan mentions the reason as ‘driving or causing or permitting to drive a motorcycle by wearing a protective headgear, which is not fastened securely to the head of the wearer (helmet) (chin strap).’
According to some reports, the Ajith A got this challan in error as the registration number of the real culprits motorcycle and Ajith A’s Maruti Suzuki Alto are almost identical except for the last two digits. While the last two digits of the motorcycle’s registration number are ’11’, that of Ajith A’s Alto is ’77’.
Due to this misunderstanding on the part of Kerala Traffic Police, Ajith A who had nothing to do with this whole incident has received a fine of Rs.500 from Kerala Traffic Police. It is also strange to hear that a car owner was challaned for not wearing a helmet.
This misunderstanding has only troubled Ajith A in an unfair situation wherein he now has to approach the Kerala Traffic Police officials to rectify the mistake. However, Ajith A has told the media that he will file an official complaint with the Motor Vehicles Department to look into the matter.
In response to this, a Kerala Traffic Police official said that the glitch could be the result of a typographical error, when the registration number was being entered into the system for generating challans.
