This man was fined ₹1.13 lakh for riding bike without registration, helmet

A man from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh has been fined with ₹1,13,500 by transport department officials of the state for a slew of violations under the amended Motor Vehicles (MV) Act. This is likely the highest ever penalty under the amended act.

Prakash Banjara of Odisha's Mandsaur district was caught by traffic police while riding a bike without a registration number and helmet. He was caught during a police inspection in his area while selling water storage drums on his bike. The bike has been detained by the police.

Of the heavy penalty faced by Banjara, ₹5,000 was fined for using a vehicle without registration plate, another ₹5,000 for not possessing valid driving licence, ₹2000 was imposed for not having insurance papers and ₹1000 for not having helmet. An amount of a whopping ₹one lakh was fined over the sale of vehicle by dealer without a registration number.

The state government has started enforcing the amended MV Act due to the rising cases of road accidents in order to penalise violators. A Supreme Court Committee on road safety recently expressed its concerns about the same while reviewing a report about increased in road accidents in the state in 2020.

Odisha saw 27.5 per cent rise in road accident fatalities during September and October last year compared to same period in 2019.

In more such incidents in the state, police officials have levied heavy penalty on the violators.