1,500 vehicles seized for violating lockdown; some faked curfew passes

Police seized over 1,500 private vehicles and booked their drivers on Sunday as they decided to use other ways to punish people defying the COVID-19 lockdown.

The crackdown was coupled with a change in the police strategy to use gentler ways to discourage people from stepping out of their homes. While police have stopped beating people on the streets, they are using the full might of the law to rein in those defying the curfew.

State police chief Praveen Sood asserted that police will not baton-charge people who step out but warned of other stringent action. Accordingly, police booked more than 1,500 private vehicles after determining that their drivers had stepped out without a genuine reason. The drivers were booked under the Karnataka Police Act.

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A senior police officer said they were trying to make a clear distinction between people who step out for genuine reasons and those just roaming around. "We have put up barricades at all the major roads to find why people are stepping out. We do not stop anyone who's stepped out for a valid reason. But we have zero tolerance for those who just want to roam around," the officer explained.

Bhimashankar S Guled, DCP (Northeast), said 330 private vehicles, mostly motorcycles, were seized in his jurisdiction on Sunday.

Police also found instances of people misusing the curfew passes or forging them by taking their colour photocopies. Sood said all such people had been booked. Police have so far issued 80,000 passes to people engaged in essential services.