Tinted glass on vehicles under SC scrutiny

Transparency matters

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a petition seeking a ban on the use of black film or tinted glass in vehicles which is circuitously aiding multiple crimes.

A bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia sought a response from the Home and Transport Ministry on a public interest litigation seeking uniform regulation in this regard. “Though black films cannot by itself commit a crime, it can effectively assist in crimes. Multiple instances of rape and molestation have been reported in cars with tinted glasses and more specifically in the national capital too,” petitioner Abhishek Goenka said.

He contended that criminals would be easily identified if the vehicles “have 100 per cent visual light transmission” and the security of the country, along with the right to life of the citizens, would be guaranteed.

“VIP vehicles which are allowed its usage could rather be easily identified by red light and number plates. Hence, black glasses provide negligible protection to them. VIPs can themselves be held at ransom under the cover of tinted glasses. There have been multiple instances of elected representatives and government servants indul­ging in criminal activities and the extension of black films to their vehicles will only aid them in such crimes,” he said.

The petitioner also mentioned the example of Afghanistan, Belarus and Nigeria, which are having police allocation against population similar to India, that have already banned the use of black glasses in vehicles.

The petitioner pointed out that the Rule 100 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rule,  1989, does not mention about tinted glasses. The rule, in fact, provided that glasses of windscreens and rear windows should have a visual light transmission of 70 per cent and while it should be 50 per cent for side windows.

“Monitoring of compliance to the 50-70 per cent visibility clause becomes non-implementable due to lowest allocation of police to population as per international standards, high growth rate of vehicles and negligible availability of the device (luxometer) to check visibility,” he said.

The Delhi High Court had  in 2007 lifted the ban imposed on the use of tinted glasses by its another bench.