Monday, 08 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Dehradun police will now directly book violators involved in over speeding, rash driving and performing stunts in the city instead of following the earlier practice of issuing warnings and counselling. This decision has been taken as part of a new zero tolerance policy towards dangerous vehicular practices. The Dehradun traffic police have issued a fresh standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding such violations which will be followed to take stringent action against offenders, said the superintendent of police (Traffic) Akshay Konde.
The new guidelines come following the accidental death of a Dehraun-based YouTuber Agastay Chauhan (22) on the Yamuna Expressway on May 3. He was one of the 12 vloggers identified by the police earlier this year who were issued warnings for endangering public safety through their stunts. The police had also detained some habitual offenders and provided them multiple counselling sessions too. “We are receiving multiple complaints regarding such offences continuously. We have once more constituted the social media cell that had been formulated in January.
All cases of rash or negligent behaviour that came to us initially were being booked under the Motor Vehicles Act and being counselled. Now, if the speed of vehicles beyond 100 kilometres per hour is captured in our cameras or any other CCTV or social media, we will file an FIR against the vehicle user. This will also apply to harassment of women to capture their reactions in crowded places or near educational institutions,” said Konde.
He said that the police are not against the creativity of bloggers or influencers but action will be taken if they endanger public safety through their creativity. He said that such offenders will now be immediately booked and their respective social media accounts will be blocked too. They can be booked under sections 268 (public nuisance), 279 (rash driving), 283 (danger to public), 287 (negligent conduct), 336 (endangering safety) or 509 (harassment of women) of the Indian Penal Code, added Konde.
