Public pay up helmet fine, 36 per cent cops don’t

Chennai

The statistics of such alarming disparity was disclosed in an RTI reply from Chennai traffic police to activist Kasimayan. “It looks like police personnel, who are supposed to enforce the laws, are not bothered when it comes to following it in their lives,” the activist noted.

According to a communication from the police, a total of 65 police personnel were booked for helmetless driving in 12 months, but they could collect only Rs 4,100 (Rs 100 each) from 41 people while 24 persons in khaki have not paid their fine, said the RTI reply despatched last week by the city police. In June 2019 alone, as many as 49 police personnel were booked, but only 29 had paid the fine.

City police, which suspended a sub-inspector in July last year for riding a bike without a helmet, seems to have not bothered to collect fine from all the violators of their own tribe. The traffic police had booked 12,80,336 two-wheeler riders in Chennai last year and collected Rs 12.80 crore as fine from them. In July alone, a total of 2,01,502 bike riders were booked while in August another 1,99,201 bikers were booked for riding without helmets.

The RTI reply is silent on whether the city police have taken any efforts to collect fines from the police personnel later.