Hyderabad Traffic cops start booking criminal cases against number plate violators

Hyderabad: With several motorists failing to rectify faulty registration plates of their vehicles, leading to security and safety concerns, the Traffic Police is now booking criminal cases against violators.

In the last one month, about 100 persons have been booked for cheating by the Hyderabad Traffic Police in different police stations.

“After repeated warnings failed, we started booking criminal cases. Criminals usually move with tampered plates or vehicles with no number plates and it is a serious law and order issue,” a senior Traffic Police official said.

The police are invoking Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Motor Vehicle Act against the violators. “A common intention of majority of vehicle owners is to escape traffic penalties. It amounts to cheating the government and the traffic police. Hence, a cheating case is being booked and the vehicle is seized,” the official said.

Local Traffic policemen are detaining the vehicle and inform the local law and order police station, which then takes the vehicle owner/rider to the police station and registers a criminal case based on the complaint from the Traffic official. “Wherever the law and order police are finding vehicles without a number plate or tampered registration number, they are also booking cases,” the official said.

After a case is booked, the violator has to attend court till the completion of the trial, which could ultimately lead to a lot of inconvenience for them.

People adopt various practices to escape traffic challans or after committing any offence. One is to remove a digit or alphabet while another was to hide a digit or alphabet by pasting a paper or plaster or cloth over it, officials said.