What is worse than a hangover? It’s the sheepishness of being pulled up for reckless drunk driving during the counselling session. But a few New Year revellers discovered something worse. They were asked to produce their Aadhaar cards as well as those of the parent or spouse accompanying them, leaving little or no room for hoodwinking the cops.
“Earlier in umpteen number of cases impersonators substituted for a drunk driving offender’s parent. Let’s say the father. We had no choice, but to believe them. Once we realised what was going on, we took preventive measures. Things are different now,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic – II) A. V. Ranganath.
The recent move, a part of the State’s zero tolerance policy towards drunk driving, now entails cross verification of Aadhaar cards. Meaning that the Aadhaar card details of the offender and the parent or spouse are given a thorough check so as to verify whether the duo are actually related.
“While physically checking the names on the cards is done, this is not enough. We have a software which does the verification. The numbers of both persons are taken and entered. Within a fraction of a second, the result will show us whether they are indeed related or if the ‘parent’ is an impersonator. Photos of both persons are also displayed,” Mr. Ranganath says, even as rules of chances of impersonation. “There are no exemptions,” he adds.
Those aspiring for a government job too are left with no room to wriggle out of drunk driving cases. For, a database on drunk drivers linked to their Aadhaar cards is being maintained and shared with other police wings such as the Special Branch (SB).
Explaining the process, Mr. Ranganath says, “The SB carries out background verification and submits a list of those who have got government jobs. Once the Aadhaar number is entered, the person’s history (including drunk driving cases) will be displayed.”
