In two days, over 2.7k fined for flouting mask, distancing rules
COVID NORMS Delhi govt has announced a ₹500-fine for the first offence, ₹1k for subsequent ones
nNEWDELHI: The Delhi Police have fined over 2,700 people for offences such as not wearing masks, flouting social distancing rules and spitting in public. These are among five offences for which the Delhi government last week announced penalties amounting to ₹500 for the first offence and ₹1,000 for subsequent offences.
The fines were imposed on the violators from Monday until 5 pm on Wednesday.
The south-west district police issued the most fines— 401—on the first three days of the order being implemented in the national capital. The outer north district collected the fewest fines and penalised a little less than three dozen people.
Apart from not wearing masks, flouting social distancing norms and spitting in public places, other offences which draw this penalty are disobeying quarantine rules and consuming chewable tobacco products in public places.
The police said that while they are yet to ascertain whether the monetary fines are a better deterrent than registering FIRS against the violators, the response to the penalties is encouraging.
“Issuing fines has been 100% effective so far. It is serving as a deterrent to people, many of who were gathering at public places without wearing masks. The fact that subsequent offences invite a fine of ₹1,000 will make it even more effective,” Mandeep Singh
Randhawa, Delhi spokesperson, said.
Until this order came in, the Delhi Police had been going about booking offenders under the Indian Penal Code Section 188 (disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant) which could cause a convict to be jailed for up to a month or be fined ₹200, or both.
Until the end of May, the police had booked nearly 25,000 such people, apart from detaining another 3.7 lakh and letting them off.
While reserving FIRS only for those who refuse to pay a fine, police officers on the ground said
Police’s that the monetary penalties have been a better deterrent than FIRS.
“These fines are having the same impact that traffic fines have. Violators who thought getting booked was a far-fetched idea are afraid because this has an immediate financial impact on them,” PK Mishra, the deputy commissioner of police of Rohini district, where 212 people were penalised over two days, said.
The police are using the new law to crack down on offenders, but Vikram Singh, the former director-general of police of Uttar Pradesh, said that the authorities need to be “cautious and compassionate” while dealing with offenders during the “warlike” situation that the pandemic is.
“These are habits that die hard. And the people committing these offences are not really criminals. The police would do well to first educate them, then warm them and impose fines on only those who are hell-bent on not obeying the orders,” Singh said.
While the government order has provision for an FIR against those not paying the fine, the police said they are choosing to offer masks and educate poor people who may not have the money to pay the fines. Over the three days, the police said they distributed 8,724 masks to the needy.
“The police teams are armed with masks for violators who may not have the means to pay fines. The priority ultimately is to create awareness,” said DCP Mishra, adding that while most of the checking is taking place at pickets, there are also special police teams taking rounds of neighbourhoods to spot violators.
“Civilians are pointing out violators to us,” the DCP said.
A vast majority (66%) of the penalties were for not wearing masks, followed by social distancing violations (13%). Fines for spitting and consuming tobacco products (0.84%) amounted to a tiny percentage of the penalties.
Deepak Yadav, an additional deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), said that police personnel are visiting tobacco shops to tell the shopkeepers to warn their customers.
The New Delhi district has seen 165 violators getting caught in the act in two days.
The police said that keeping a tab on repeat offenders was the task assigned to local police teams.
“They maintain a register of the offenders. They know who has repeated an offence,” said Vijayanta Arya, DCP (northwest), whose district has fined 177 people.
The government order which came into effect from Saturday is valid for one year.