Motorists in Bengaluru allege harassment over high-security number plates

The rule on mandatory installation of high-security number plates (HSRP) doesn’t apply to old vehicles for now, but motorists in Bengaluru complain that the traffic police have been routinely penalising them for not having the HSRP.

The implementation of HSRP, which contains a hologram and a code that helps track vehicle history, in Karnataka has been delayed several times. While all vehicles registered after March 2019 come with HSRP, the state government has failed to meet the deadlines set by the Union government and the higher judiciary to enforce HSRP installation in vehicles registered prior to March 31, 2019.

However, as the traffic police intensified checks on violations, their insistence that vehicle owners have HSRP has led to confusion.

Over the last one year, the matter has come up time and again with the city police commissioner himself clarifying on the issue.

That, however, has not stopped the constables from demanding fines. “During a routine check near Hebbal, a constable asked me why I do not have ‘IND number plate’. I didn’t realise what he meant. I called up a friend and got to know that he was asking about HSRP. I told him it is not mandatory. He started demanding Rs 500 as penalty. When I demanded a challan (receipt), he just let me go with a warning to install ‘IND plate’ soon,” Vineet (name changed) told DH.

Ravindra, a commuter from Byatarayanapura, said the traffic police were imposing penalties on defective and decorative number plates. “In November, I was stopped by a constable who asked me about the lack of HSRP. Fortunately I knew there was no such rule,” he said.

In November, a tweet by Byatarayanapura traffic police suggesting that HSRP was mandatory had led to a furore on social media. After several users drew the attention of the commissioner, the tweet was deleted.

However, motorists still take to social media to complain to authorities. Some posted a photo of the penalty receipt and claimed that they were fined for not having an HSRP. Joint commissioner of police (Traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda acknowledged the issue. “There may be some misunderstanding which had resulted in constables demanding HSRP,” he said.

However, Gowda said the real problem was the defective number plates. “In keeping with the high court order, we are removing defective plates. If any of our staff insist on HSRP, motorists should register a complaint and I will initiate action,” he said.

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