Rickshaw drivers to be fined no more than Rs150 a day

Decision comes a day after a rickshaw driver tried to self-immolate after refusing to pay bribe

KARACHI: The Karachi police chief has said that keeping poverty in mind, rickshaw drivers will not be fined more than Rs150 in a day.

Karachi Additional Inspector-General (AIG) Dr Ameer Sheikh paid a visit to an injured rickshaw driver undergoing treatment at the Burns Centre of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi on Sunday. The driver, forced by poverty, denied to give bribe to the traffic police and attempted to commit suicide on Sunday by setting himself on fire. Durning his visit to the hospital, the AIG presented a cheque of compensation to the relatives of the rickshaw driver, but the relatives refused to accept it and demanded justice instead.

According to the driver’s statement that is being shared on social media, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Mohammed Hanif had been extorting Rs100 from the driver daily. He gave the policeman Rs50 on Saturday, but the latter forced him to pay Rs100 and on refusal, the ASI handed him a challan. Faced with the fine, the driver sprinkled oil on his body and set himself on fire.

While addressing the media, the Karachi police chief said that the incident of the rickshaw driver’s self-immolation was very sad. He said traffic policemen had imposed a fine of Rs150 on him because his rickshaw was not equipped with a speedometre. Fining the driver for this was illegal, he said, adding that when the incident came to their knowledge, they suspended the traffic policeman. The matter is being investigated further.

The police said that the challan was identified by entering the number of the rickshaw in the electronic system where it was revealed that the driver was fined 18 times in different areas in the past two years.

This data is included in the inquiry and the police added that if the investigations showed that the traffic policemen targeted the driver for challan, an FIR would be registered against the traffice police officials and if needed, they will also be arrested.

The Karachi police chief ordered the traffic police officers to give a warning and let those people go who cannot afford to pay the fine. It was also requested that rickshaw drivers respect traffic laws and not park their vehicles in places they shouldn’t. He added that if someone had a complaint regarding police’s behaviour, they should contact the 15 helpline, police’s WhatsApp number or their Facebook page.

The Karachi police chief announced that if any rickshaw driver is unable to pay the challan, then he would pay it himself.

With additional input from PPI

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2018.