Bengaluru Traffic Police have been fighting the issue of defective number plates for over a year now. As traffic norm enforcement has gone online in the city, defective number plates, in many cases deliberately done so to escape enforcement, have turned out to be one of the biggest challenges for BTP now.
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In a special drive against defective number plates, the Karnataka police have booked 19,448 cases across the State over the last three weeks. Of them, 9,684 cases were booked in Bengaluru only, the highest for any district in the State.ย
Bengaluru was followed by Mysuru city with 634 cases, Mangaluru city with 550 cases, Belagavi city with 527 cases and Hubballi – Dharwad with 405 cases.ย
Alok Kumar, Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, said that motorists with defective number plates or without number plates, used to dodge law enforcement authorities committing traffic violations. Such vehicles have been involved in accidents and even committed criminal offences. โDefiance of law and manipulation must be dealt with firmly,โ he said explaining the rationale behind the special drive launched across the State.ย
Bengaluru Traffic Police have been fighting the issue of defective number plates for over a year now. As traffic norm enforcement has gone online in the city, defective number plates, in many cases deliberately done so to escape enforcement, have turned out to be one of the biggest challenges for BTP now, as it hinders tracking down vehicles violating traffic norms and serving notices to them. BTP had earlier in October 2023 launched a special drive against defective number plates and even booked 22 FIRs against vehicle owners who had deliberately tried to mask their number plates. However, the menace continues unabated.ย
โThis problem has now extended to other parts of the State and vehicles plying on highways started masking the registration plates either with dirt or with stickers or pieces of clothes to hoodwink enforcement cameras. To counter this, the district police put up checkpoints and intensified highway patrolling to identify or check on offenders. Following this we launched a statewide special drive,โ Mr. Kumar said.
M.N. Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru, said that now that the traffic police had restarted physical check of vehicles on the road, they were also focusing on defective number plates.
According to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 defaulters can face a penalty of up to โน5,000. If a vehicle has a false number plate or missing digits or letters, the police can seize the vehicle and register a criminal case.
