[centaur]

If this is the case what about helping injured people in an accident? They too are strangers and if we go by this law, no vehicle apart from an ambulance or a yellow broad vehicle can transport them. I guess there is a rule which says that you cannot use a privately registered car for earning but here car pooling is being promoted day in and day out including big celebs. So either the laws needs to be changed accordingly or the cops needs to be informed.

While there are many people saying that the OP could have fought the case and pleaded not guilty asking those in the car to testify saying there was no money involved, there could also be a possibility that they were decoys from the cops itself. (just a possibility).

Coming to apps - Uber would not allow a person to register his vehicle unless they have the commercial driving license and a commercially registered vehicle as well but none of the other apps (Sride, quickride etc.) ask for anything of this sort. Infact they provide a quote as well for the charge the pool seeker needs to pay. Why are not these apps banned?

[locusjag]

I see a pattern in MORTH Mr.Nitin Gadkari's law-making and this pattern tells me he will undo this archaic law.

He has already made the Commercial License unnecessary to drive sub-7 tonne vehicles.

Uber has been lobbying with him to remove the concept of yellow boards and he has also made noises to that effect (couldn't locate a Livemint article where I'd read it). The end game is that once liberalized, the private cars that are already plying on our city roads can double up as cabs (if their owners so prefer) and this will mop up a decent number of cars from the congested urban roads. This change (if it happens) together with the license change (that has already taken effect in 2018) will mean that you and I could pick up unknown people en route to work and the same when driving back.

How will archaic laws such as the one in this thread gel well with reforms that Mr.Gadkari is mulling over? Unless giving a lift for free versus doing so for money are treated differently, I don't see this particular law existing for long. The outcome of Elections 2019 is the key.

[sumeethaldankar]

I had read about this in the Times of India some time back and had this knowledge in the back of my mind that is illegal to give lift to strangers. I really do not indulge in giving lift to unknown people but in extreme cases I did made a exception for eg during the Mumbai bandh in Jan this year a couple of stranded ladies and an elderly gentleman became guests in my car. There are ride sharing apps like S-Ride I wonder how is the law applicable to same because in S-ride's case the owner of the vehicle does receive some sought of payment.

[ajayclicks]

Originally Posted by InControl

In ride sharing apps like Quick Ride, there is no actual money that changes hands. You need to buy points which get transferred to the person who is sharing his ride. When the points get accumulated to upto 500 , you can reimburse it for Fuel cards with which you can fill fuel.

Dont know about other cities, but this is now quiet popular in various tech parks in bangalore

You can also reimburse Quick Ride points to your Paytm account, and hence use it for other purposes.

[NiInJa]

This episode shows everything that is wrong with people and the system.


1. The cop should have used his judgement and considering the circumstances, should have let the guy go. He was not demanding any money or personal benefit by giving them a lift.

2. The lowest level court judges are nothing to write about. They mostly want to close cases, so he must have not considered the case as an exception and acted like a robot. The 'passengers' were not involved in the trial !

3. The guy could have appealed higher courts but considering he had to take a leave to just get his license back, better sense prevailed and he accepted that he is guilty !

During my college days I had a chance to visit such courts as one of my friend was caught riding his dad's scooter in no-entry, and one thing I realized that there is nothing to feel guilty about going to the court. Its business as usual there. The police were demanding hefty fine to solve the matter there but he chose the court and ended up paying lesser fine

Coming to this specific case, a lot of people take lifts on Pune-Mumbai expressway to meet office or home deadlines and many private cars make money out of it, some people get looted too in wee hours, so my guess is that the police were doing their job nabbing such people, but didn't arrive to a correct judgement in this case.

I feel having such a law is important as there are some grey areas in case of accidents or thefts involving such lifts.
My father lost one of his best friend 8 years ago when he took a lift in an Alto on his way to office in Mumbai (sad part: he had retired after travelling from Pune to Mumbai for four years and was on his way to complete his retirement formalities one last time) and the car toppled following a tyre burst -as per the driver- in Khandala ghat, he was the only one who lost his life while 2 others escaped with mild injuries. Nobody knows how it happened till date and no case was filed on the driver (the one who offered lift) except for this fine.

[landcruiser123]

This is the kind of situation for which there is "Law enforcement." The police should let go of such cases. They are supposed to be humane and understand the gravity of the situation. The law might have been written for the 1960s which has to be changed.

This is abuse of power IMHO.

And yes, while offering a lift and giving a lift, both persons should understand the potential risks. And yes, incidents are lesser likely to happen in broad daylight.

[ninjatalli]

I think this is getting blown way out of proportion. One guy got a ticket by an overzealous (or one low on his targets) cop and he followed through the process and accepted his "guilt" in the court.

1. There is no evidence of a wave of such checks happening in Mumbai or any city. Only one single case

2. There are numerous apps (via public and internal) that are operating on the principle of co-pooling running just fine

3. Giving lifts to random folks has been an age old habit since decades. If any, it's actually going down (unfortunately) due to mistrust and general lack of the practice

4. Clearly as mentioned by many, there is no clear cut law that prevents giving lifts; however vague other laws are

So till we actually get news of someone else getting another ticket; can we simmer down and focus on other things to argue about

[zombiedriver]

This would make so many ride sharing apps illegal. Infact on a bad day if you encounter a cop like this while carpooling to work, even that would be a problem as the onus to prove the absence of any money exchanged falls on the person driving. Not sure how many people would have the time and energy to fight in court, presume most people would rather pay the fine. Definitely needs to be looked into.

Now I am wondering how Bla Bla car is considered legal in this scenario? How were they even allowed to function?

[binand]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

the onus to prove the absence of any money exchanged falls on the person driving.

Where did you get that from? Any references? At least in India the presumption of innocence operates, as far as I know.

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

Now I am wondering how Bla Bla car is considered legal in this scenario? How were they even allowed to function?

They have a page where they neatly lobs the ball back at you:

https://www.blablacar.in/faq/questio...k-to-rideshare

Reading through some references, it appears that ridesharing/carpooling could have ramifications. For example:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/50952755.cms

"The tribunal's order clearly showed that the occupants of the vehicle were neither family members of the vehicle owner nor were related to him and that, the vehicle was used for hire and reward purpose"

I am assuming friends and associates do fall under the unbrella "related to" you. Because of TOI's horrible reporting, we need to look up the full MACT judgment to see if there was other evidence presented that reinforced the conclusion that the arrangement in this case was of "hire and reward" in nature.

[libranof1987]

I shared this news on a couple of carpool groups I'm a part of. Someone mentioned that this issue was being discussed on some news channel and every opinion unanimously blamed the cop for his action.

Anyone else follow it?

Here's an article on this:

A traffic police officer in a statement to Hindustan Times said the cop who fined Nair was following the law. The officers said that they don’t fine every motorist but only those whom they suspect may charge money from people in lieu of offering a ride, which is illegal.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/in...n-2628691.html

[ajmat]

I read in today's Bangalore Mirror that the traffic police here will not enforce this as a fully occupied car reduces congestion.

[murthy_p]

Bengaluru will never do what Mumbai did.

"We don’t want to fine anyone who gives a lift to someone in need or shares a vehicle. I do not think this could be a commercial activity [here]. In fact, we want to support carpooling in Bengaluru,” said R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Traffic.

"The city is already very congested. If everyone drives to work, it will only get worse. Carpooling helps reduce the number of cars on the road; instead of four people driving four cars to the same place, they can travel in one car. There is nothing wrong with it unless the person giving a lift to a stranger is charging money for it,” he said.

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c...w/64739138.cms

[centaur]

An update -

The cop has been transferred and an enquiry ordered. Full article here

There is also a suggestion from many lawyers to get these laws removed/revamped

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

There is no evidence of a wave of such checks happening in Mumbai or any city. Only one single case

I was casually searching for the relevant rule of MV act and found similar story from about three year ago here. Seems like Mumbai police & RTO is reasonably active in enforcing this particular law.

[Mu009]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

I was casually searching for the relevant rule of MV act and found similar story from about three year ago here. Seems like Mumbai police & RTO is reasonably active in enforcing this particular law.

How is this enforcing the law?
The Facebook post described what was initially extortion and harassment by RTO officials. Then comes complete inflexibility from the judge in the face of an obvious instance of bullying an ignorant man into pleading guilty.

It is like the case described in the OP, but please do not use the adjectives reasonable or enforcing in the same sentence.

Even in the present case, why is retroactive action being taken once the issue is publicised? If that is possible, why could that not be done at the judge's level in the first place? That would discourage such harassment by police "officers".

Every time it's the same story - until you make a noise, people will take advantage of you and harass you as much as possible. Once you do make enough noise, and it resonates with enough people, you can get some justice.
Other than that, the courts and procedures are an act - they can be reversed of there is sufficient public outrage.
At least that's the lesson I've learnt from the above. *shrugs*

Feel free to give me a different perspective if I'm wrong - I'd love to be able to see anything in a good light.