When 30-year-old Nitin Nair decided to give a lift to some strangers who were stuck at a bus stop during last week’s heavy downpour in Mumbai, little did he know that he would end-up paying a fine for being a good Samaritan.
Nair, who works at a financial consultancy firm, was heading to his Navi Mumbai office in his car on June 18 when he saw a few people stuck on a bus stop due to the heavy rain. He offered help to three people among whom one was a senior citizen and other two were IT employees. However, as soon as, three of them got in, and Nair started his car, a traffic cop walked up to the car and then asked him for his driving license. Nair initially thought it was a parking issue, however soon he realised he is being fined for giving a lift to strangers.
Nair posted the entire incident on Facebook with the copy of challan. He wrote, “I’m writing this just to make car owners aware of such law. I’m sure most of them like me are unaware of this law. Today I was fined by our country’s court of law just because I helped some people who were in need.”
He further wrote, “On Monday Morning, when I was on my way to the office I saw few office goers near Airoli Circle desperately looking for a lift as it was raining heavily and all public transport was either crowded or late. One of them was an elderly (at least 60+) person and other two guys were working for a reputed IT company (I could make out from their Office ID card). I stopped by the side of the road. They said that they wanted to go to Gandhi Nagar. I asked them to get in, as Gandhi Nagar was on my way to the office.”
It was only then when a traffic police officer who was towing vehicles came to him and asked him for the license. Nair also mentioned, “After visiting the chowkie the next day, I was informed that I need to go to the court to collect my license, as I was booked under section 66/192 [Motor Vehicle Act]. Under this section, I have to go to the court, except I did a mistake in front of a judge and pay the fine to collect my license.”
Just to confirm the charges, Nair even consulted one of his lawyer friends who told him that it is illegal to offer the lift to an unknown person in a private vehicle. Nair was ordered to pay Rs 2,000 to reclaim his license.
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