BENGALURU: Youngsters in their early twenties riding two-wheelers with two pillion riders and also some of them performing wheelies with no action taken by the city police are causing a nuisance in the city, while also resulting in accidents and deaths, said the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, directing the authorities to submit their response on the issue.
A division bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice MI Arun passed the order during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by Dr Archana Bhat K, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology, Kateel Ashok Pai Memorial College in Shivamogga over implementing the law concerning wearing of safety harnesses and crash helmets by children starting from the age of nine months to four years who ride the pillion on two-wheelers.
The court orally asked the government advocate about implementing the existing rules on helmets. It orally said that in Bengaluru, it finds youngsters and teenagers riding triples and doing wheelies in certain areas, but police not taking any action against them.
The court asked what the government was doing against this nuisance. “Anybody living in Bengaluru will know about it. It’s causing a huge nuisance in Bengaluru and there have been reported accidents and deaths because of that, which is public knowledge. Therefore, the government has to submit its response about implementing the existing laws,” the court said.
In the order, the court stated that the approach of the court may not be confined only to the issue of the petition concerning safety measures like safety harnesses and crash helmets while carrying a child, but the court may require the state authorities to redress the implementation of the safety rules concerning the two-wheeler riders – including the pillion riders and the number of persons to ride on such two-wheelers. The reply which may be filed should take care of these issues, the court said, while directing the government to submit its response by March 11, and adjourning the hearing to March 17.
The government advocate informed the court that the transport department held a meeting with helmet manufacturers who require five to six months to manufacture the child helmets and hence time required to file the response.