Mumbai e-challan system changed to protect celebrities

The Mumbai Traffic Police has changed the traffic violation e-challan system to protect the privacy of celebrities.

The earlier system allowed you to enter the vehicle registration number which then showed the list of violations and unpaid challans. It soon emerged that cars registered to famous celebrities including Bollywood actors and politicians had unpaid challans. The list of violations included speeding, jumping the signal, driving into no-entry zones and not halting in front of zebra crossings.

To protect the identity of these celebrities, the e-challan system no longer allows you to search using the vehicle number. This applies for the Mumbai Police website as well as the MTP App. The owners of the vehicles are no longer able to see the list of pending fines. Only a challan number can be provided to enable online payment.

The violations and the fine amount along with the challan number are sent to the owner via an SMS. However, this works only when the number is linked to the vehicle. The Mumbai Traffic Police has not responded to a clarification on the same.