NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the police to confiscate pressure horns and modified silencers of vehicles in the city after a police report on prosecutions didn’t have much difference from a previous submission. The high court gave the direction after taking note of a petition filed last year by an NGO, Justice For Rights Foundation.
In its October 16 report, the Delhi Police reported that 6,157 motorists were prosecuted for using pressure horns and modified silencers — up from 6,000-plus cases as mentioned in a report in July.“The Delhi police will up its crackdown on modified silencers and pressure horns in Delhi as directed by the High court of Delhi and forfeit the pressure horns and modified silencers on vehicles,” the NGO said.
Representing the non-profit body, advocate Harpreet Singh Hora informed the court that the areas around DU campus are heavily marred by people using modified silencers and pressure horns and yet, the police doesn’t take action. “There is a difference as the numbers of modified silencers challaned are more, but those haven’t been removed by the police,” he said.
Subsequently, the High court directed that such pressure horns and modified silencers be forfeited by the police with immediate effect. Under the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, 80 decibels is the maximum noise limit for two-wheelers. But transport officials claim bikers found using modified silencers violate the norms. Modified silencer, which is widely popular among the youths, produces noise that is at least of 120 decibels and often above 130 decibels — which is above the limit.