Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Helmet rule: MLA petitions Kodiyeri

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram East MLA V. Sivankutty has submitted a memorandum to Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan highlighting the inconvenience caused to the public by the police drive to enforce the helmet law.

The memorandum alleged that a section of police officials were using the High Court order making helmets mandatory to discredit the government and the Home Department.

“Two-wheeler riders including women are often treated like criminals. It is the middle class and lower-income groups that are intimidated by the police action,” he said.

“While the government is bound to implement the High Court verdict, a section of officers are trying to harass motorists in a bid to show the government in a bad light. The helmet law is not something that can be enforced by an order. It has to be implemented with public participation and by taking them into confidence,” he said.

Mr. Sivankutty observed that the police drive to enforce the helmet law had led to several accidents in the city over the last month. “Two-wheeler riders lose control when policemen pounce on them from behind curves and avenue trees. Many riders including women have been injured in such accidents,” he added.

He said other, more serious, traffic violations were being ignored across the city while the police were obsessed with the action on helmet-less riders.

He pointed out that senior police officers had publicised their contact numbers in a bid to check policemen from going overboard with the drive.

Mr. Sivankutty urged the Home Minister to intervene and take steps to prevent harassment of motorists in the name of enforcing the helmet law.

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