A person’s exploit of allowing his five-and-half-year-old daughter to drive a scooter along the busy national highway at Edappally landed him in trouble, with the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) stripping him of his licence for a year with immediate effect. The incident took place on Sunday.
Shibu Francis, a resident of Perumpadappu, was disqualified from holding a licence till July 29 next year. He got into trouble after someone captured the video of the illegal act. Shibu and family were found travelling on a scooter, which was driven by his daughter. Her younger sibling was seen sandwiched between her and Shibu, further adding to the gravity of the deed.
The video that went viral came to the notice of Transport Commissioner K. Padmakumar who immediately referred it to Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Jojy P. Jose for action. Mr. Jose referred the case to Mattancherry RTO Shaji Madhavan, as the registration number of the scooter visible in the video traced the owner to the limits of the Mattancherry Sub RTO.
It emerged during the course of an inquiry that the vehicle was registered in the name of one Ramachandran, who gave a statement to the effect that Shibu had used his vehicle. Mr. Madhavan submitted the inquiry report to Mr. Jose, as the incident had taken place within the limits of the Ernakulam RTO.
“We served a notice summoning him [Shibu] for a hearing during the course of which he admitted to the mistake and attributed it to ignorance. Shibu’s licence was suspended at once after the hearing considering the seriousness of the offence,” Mr. Jose said.
The action was taken invoking Section 19 (1(f)(h) of the Motor Vehicles Act, authorising officials to disqualify someone from holding a licence and Section 21(18) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. The notice said the action was being taken in view of the seriousness of the violation and the direction of the Supreme Court committee on road safety to take firm action against those found violating road safety rules.
