200,000 people prosecuted in lockdown; most fines pending
Nearly 200,000 people were prosecuted during the lockdown between April 19 and May 25 in Delhi for not following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, of which 171,154 (86.6%) were fined for either not using a mask or wearing it incorrectly, shows data accessed by HT. Reports further showed that enforcement agencies in the city have been unable to recover at least 86% of the fines imposed against these challans during the said period.
In Delhi, the district administrations, the Delhi Police and the municipal corporations (MCDS) are the agencies responsible for enforcing lockdowns and ensuring Covid appropriate behaviour among citizens. Data showed that between April 19 and May 25, the Delhi Police issued 97,374 challans, the district magistrates (DMS) and their teams issued 93,723 challans and the MCDS prosecuted 6,480 people.
But, data of the fines collected by the district administrations and the MCDS show that of the total fines worth Rs 17.18 crore imposed on violators, only Rs 2.54 crore has been recovered for the said period.
Isha Khosla, DM (north) said the reason why enforcement agencies have not been able to recover the fines is because a majority of the voters do not have cash with them when they are caught. On November 19 last year, the Delhi
NEW DELHI:
Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) increased the fine from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 for not wearing a mask in public or at workplaces.
“The idea is not really to extract money from people. It is rather to spread awareness and ensure strict enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour and lockdown rules. Slapping a challan acts as a deterrent to a great extent, even if the money is not paid by the violator on the spot. Besides, we have also observed that compliance to Covid rules improved significantly ever since the fine for not wearing a mask was imposed. So, the amount is also justified that way,” said Khosla. She has deployed 35-40 teams in the north district to conduct such enforcement activities.
The north district issued the second highest challans (13,883) after Shahdara district (13,904) between April 19 and May 25. While the north district could recover only 2.4% (Rs 6,88,000) of the Rs 2.7 crore worth fines imposed, Shahdara managed to recover Rs 7,24,500 of Rs 2,78,08,000, which accounts for 2.6% of the total fine amount.
Another DM, who did not wish to be named, said there are only two ways in which a violator can pay the penalty amount. One, by paying it on the spot in cash and second by paying it in the court.
“Many violators ask us if e-wallets such as Google Pay, UPI, Paytm etc are accepted. But, there is still no provision for online payment of challans issued for violation of Covid appropriate behaviour. So, we have no option but to issue a challan under section 188 of the IPC, which then goes to the police,” said the DM.
A Delhi Police official explained that all such cases are then forwarded to the city courts. “The process is same as is with unpaid traffic challan. All these cases end up in the court, which then conducts hearings and disposes the cases. But, there is a huge pendency in the courts regarding challans due to the sheer volume of the prosecutions,” said the police official.
Ankita Chakravarty, DM (south) said enforcement has not been much of a problem this time. “This Covid wave was so grave that there was fear among the people in general. The compliance was way higher than the previous lockdowns because of the severity and the number of Covid-19 cases,” she said.
“But now, as the heat is rising, wearing a mask is not possible all the time because it gets really sweaty inside. Hence, the maskwearing compliance is slightly dropping these days. It might also be because the cases have plummeted. That is why, I have deployed at least 10 teams who make sure people do not put their guard down,” said Chakravarty.
A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of New Delhi district, which prosecuted the highest number of people across all categories during said period, said the refusal of people to pay the challan has increased, because of which the number of FIRS registered in their district has also spiked.
“When there was a lockdown during the third wave of Covid-19 in Delhi in November, New Delhi district had registered around 202 FIRS. During this lockdown, between April 19 and May 25, at least 1,757 FIRS have been registered in the district,” said the subdivisional magistrate.