On Monday, September 4, the Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Akshat Kaushal informed the media that 35,000 challans have been issued from January this year until the end of August, to vehicles with tinted glasses. This information was vital for the police department’s defence since O Heraldo two days earlier had exposed how the accused in the Kamakshi Uddapnov murder case had driven a car with dark-tinted glasses from Porvorim to Amboli Ghat in Maharashtra, crossing three border checkposts and hoodwinking the cops.
The revelations not only exposed the failure of the traffic cops to apprehend the car with tinted glasses all through its journey to Amboli Ghat but also exposed the porous border checkposts on the Goa-Maharashtra border. Before entering Maharashtra, there are three border checkposts – at Naibagh, Mopa and Patradevi.
In 2012, in a judgment to a public interest litigation filed by Avishek Goenka, complaining that cars with black film on window panes were being increasingly used for crimes, including sexual assault of women, the Supreme Court of India issued guidelines banning the use of tinted glass/black films on cars and opaque screens. As per the guidelines, cars must have at least 70% visibility in front and rear and at least 35-50% visibility on the sides, while there are no exemptions given to any category. As per the amended Indian Motor Vehicles Act, a hefty fine of Rs 2,000 for driving a vehicle with tinted glasses exists.
Therefore, in acknowledgement that 35,000 challans were issued for tinted glasses, the Government of Goa coffers have been enriched by Rs 7 crore in just the last eight months.
After the horrific fatal accident at Banastarim due to drunken driving, which took three lives and left an equal number of victims seriously injured, including paralysis, the Goa Police began a special drive against drunken driving. Again the SP Traffic informed that 980 cases were booked this year for drunken driving.
Giving out the number of challans issued and cases booked after a major accident or a murder, is a naïve way to defend the lack of responsibility exhibited during carrying out the enforcement and duty on the roads. Is it not an open secret that the rich, those with political influence, and the ones who are close to the powers-that-be always have a freeway to violations? Was the accused in the Kamakshi murder case, Prakash Chunchwad, one such pawn who had a clearance from being on the radar? Or else, how could it be possible for Chunchwad to fearlessly drive around the State in car with tinted glasses since 2018? These questions arise because the murder was executed just hours after the victim had filed a formal complaint at the Mapusa Police Station and the accused was let off on submission of a written assurance that he would not interfere in her affairs. And subsequently, hours later he drove across three checkposts to dump the terribly mutilated body.
In July last year, the Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh had issued directions that visible violations should be punished and randomly stopping vehicles for document checking be stopped. Tinted glasses of a vehicle are the most visible violation of all violations, then what is the police force doing about such violations?
The government and the Chief Minister as the Minister of the Home Department has to clear the stains that have demeaned the uniform. First, it was a recruitment scam that jolted and delayed the whole recruitment process for nearly two years and now it is the corrupt practices, and exposés such as the G-Pay scandal and the poor enforcement of law that are ruining the stature of the police force in the State. There are allegations and enough proof for the public to lose faith in the system, and therefore it is the paramount duty of those heading the department to clean up the mess and bring accountability in the system.
Corruption in the law enforcement agency is the first indication of the collapse of law and order in the State, which ultimately ruins the very foundations of the force. Therefore, unless the integrity of the Police Department is restored, no number of challans can produce discipline amongst the public.
