Allowing a five-year-old boy to control a motorcycle could sound preposterous.
But that is exactly what a father was found doing while heading to a school at Edathala with his younger son for picking up his elder child returning from a tour a week ago.
He was intercepted by a senior Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) officer, who chose awareness over enforcement considering the stiff penalties for juvenile driving in the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act.
“The father was basking in the reflected glory of his young son’s riding talent oblivious to the fact that he was guilty of a crime that would have landed him in jail for three months, besides having to cough up ₹25,000. Not to mention the hardship of producing his son before the Juvenile Justice Board and who, incidentally, will not be eligible for driving licence till he turns 25,” said the officer who called for a change in parents’ attitude towards curbing the menace of juvenile driving.
Notwithstanding the rigorous penal mechanism in the amended Act, juvenile driving seems to be thriving going by a special 15-day drive conducted by the Ernakulam rural police at the start of November in which 60 such offenders were found. The offenders and vehicle owners were made to undergo a three-hour-long awareness class recently.
Role in crime
“We plan to crack the whip on juvenile driving, especially after finding that juveniles were increasingly involved in several chain snatching and even drug cases, besides causing accidents. We have also decided to hold awareness sessions for juvenile drivers and owners of vehicles involved as part of enforcement,” said K. Karthik, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
However, officials continue to face a dilemma while going ahead with a no-holds-barred enforcement regime considering the rigours it inflicts on the offenders and their families under the new amended Act.
“For instance, most of the 60 offenders that the police had pulled up as part of the drive were from financially backward families. The hefty fine applicable for juvenile driving is more than the monthly income of some of these families. So, the question is how we can charge them, especially when the juvenile concerned had indulged in the act without the consent or knowledge of his family,” said an additional sub inspector attached to the rural police.
The MVD has referred the less than 10 cases it had registered for underage driving under the new provisions to the court and has chosen to observe how it goes so as to absolve itself from any potential backlash.
