UP Resident Faces Unusual ₹1,000 Fine for Car Helmet Violation

Tushar Saxena, a resident of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, has found himself entangled in a puzzling traffic fine issued by Noida police. Saxena, who claims never to have visited Gautam Buddh Nagar where Noida is located, received a ₹1,000 penalty for allegedly driving his car without a helmet.

Initially, Saxena dismissed the fine as an error after receiving a text message. However, when he got an email and another text about the same fine, he decided to contact the Noida traffic authorities. To his astonishment, he was informed that the fine was for driving his four-wheeler without a helmet. “The challan was issued on November 9, 2023. If there’s a traffic rule requiring helmet use in cars, the authorities need to provide this information clearly,” Saxena said.

Saxena purchased his vehicle in March of the previous year and transferred its registration from Ghaziabad to Rampur. Despite his attempts to resolve the issue, he remains confused about how such a fine could be issued in a district he has never visited.

This incident is not unique. Earlier, similar cases have been reported in various parts of India. For example, Bahadur Singh Parihar from Jhansi received a ₹1,000 fine for not wearing a helmet while driving his Audi. Parihar was told the issue would be addressed after the Lok Sabha elections, leading him to wear a bike helmet temporarily. Another case involved a government school teacher in Noida who was fined ₹1,000 for not wearing a helmet while driving her car, despite not owning a bike.

In 2017, Vishnu Sharma from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, was also fined for not wearing a helmet in his Maruti Omni minivan. After he protested, the fine was later corrected to a seatbelt violation.

As Saxena awaits a resolution, he joins others in hoping that such errors will be addressed promptly to avoid similar confusion in the future.