A Kerala man had his license suspended after he allowed his five-and-half-year-old daughter to drive a scooter on a busy highway in Kochi’s Edappally.
Shibu Francis, a resident of Ernakulum district, was barred from driving by the motor vehicle department after he was captured on camera letting his minor daughter drive the scooter even as his other daughter and wife were also riding with him.
Transport Commissioner K Padmakumar came across the viral video and referred the matter to Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Jojy P Jose, to take strict action against the erring driver.
During the course of an inquiry, it was found that the vehicle belonged to one Ramachandran, who gave a statement to the effect that Shibu had used his vehicle, The Hindu reported.
“We served a notice summoning him [Shibu] for a hearing during the course of which he admitted to the mistake and attributed it to ignorance. Shibu’s licence was suspended at once after the hearing considering the seriousness of the offence,” The Hindu quoted P Jose as saying.
In conversation with Asianet channel , Shaji Madhavan, Mattancherry RTO, said, “It looked as if the father was enjoying his daughter driving the scooter, which also makes it look like he was daring the law.”
However, the man in question, Shibu Francis, denied the allegations and said that his daughter wasn’t driving the scooter as it appeared on the video, she was only holding the accelerator when he put his hands down since it was paining.
