MP Police get tough on modified vehicle silencers, enforce traffic norms

By Praveen Dwivedi

Bhopal, April 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Madhya Pradesh government has implemented the rules of Section 182 A (3) of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, according to which, manufacturing and sale of modified silencers for vehicles will be a punishable offence now.

As per the police, the first of its kind rules have been introduced in Madhya Pradesh aiming to prohibit the sale of components or parts of vehicles that can harm the human health and violate the traffic laws. The violation of the rules will amount to the imprisonment of one year along with a heavy fine up to Rs one lakh.

With the implementation of the rules, police have also begun search operations of the vehicles' components manufacturing units, garages and car decorators, and the shops selling modified vehicle silencers across the state.

The first such search operation was carried out in Bhopal a couple days ago, during which car decorators for modified silencers were confiscated. Following which, a Bhopal district court dealing with cases related to Motor Vehicles Act, imposed a fine of Rs one lakh against a shop owner for selling the silencers.

Anurag Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic /crime) of Bhopal said the implementation of Section 182 A (3) of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 has became the need of hour in order to pun a ban on manufacturing and selling of the vehicle components that are categorised as contravention of the provisions of the traffic norms.

"Generally, the police will impose a fine on the vehicle owners for using modified silencers or other components, whereas, the manufacturers and sellers of such components are equally responsible. Now, they would also be held responsible and the violators would have to face punitive actions, including imposition of heavy fine," Sharma told IANS.

Sharma also made it clear that the amount of fine against violation of norms would be decided by the court, and not by the police. "It will have an impact as the people will avoid using modified silencers or the other contravention components in their vehicles," Sharma added.

Besides this, the Madhya Pradesh Police have also taken several initiatives to spread awareness, and programmes are being organised involving the local people aross the state. The Commissioner of Police (CP) Bhopal, Harinarayanachari Mishra recently flagged off a 'Yatayat Mitra Yojna', an initiative of the state Home Department which involves local citizens.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has repeatedly slammed the state government and police over growing cases of traffic violations, especially in big cities of the state.

Last month, a petition pointed out that the amended Motor Vehicle Act has not been implemented in the state, the government had then submitted that the amended rules would be implemented in the state within 45 days.

In another stance in September 2022, while hearing a petition stating that "lack of enforcement of the compulsory helmet rule for the two-wheeler riders is responsible for the majority of deaths in road accidents," Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice R.V. Malimath had commented that - "Yes, nobody is seen wearing helmets on the roads".

Source: IANS