IDUKKI: A case has been registered against a cartoonist for drawing a cartoon against a woman sub inspector for imposing fine unnecessarily. The Kattappana police registered a case against cartoonist Sajidas Mohan for drawing a cartoon against a woman traffic sub inspector and posting it on Facebook. The case is for defamation in cyberspace and for insulting womanhood.

Sajidas posted a cartoon with the caption that if imposed fine would protest in front of the station. This was after the sub inspector took a photo of his vehicle when it was stopped in the traffic block four days ago. A section of the traders in the city came to the fore against the inspector for imposing fine unnecessarily.

Meantime, she explained that the case was registered for parking the vehicles on the road and other allegations are baseless.

Pressure on MVD to impose fine
There is heavy pressure on the officials of the motor vehicle department to stop vehicles on the road and collect fines. They were directed to impose Rs 30 crore per month. It is alleged that this is to bring more money into the exchequer due to the financial crisis.

Rs 16 to 18 crore is charged monthly as fine via camera. The total target is double of that. An officer should register at least 500 cases and if not, action will be taken.

20 officials who have not met the target are threatened with action. The organizations of MVD are planning to approach the chief minister. The chief minister had mentioned that checking will come down during the inauguration of the AI camera scheme.

Bigwigs argue that traffic accidents are increasing because officials are negligent in imposing fines. In fact, many factors such as bad road conditions, vehicle breakdowns, inclement weather etc. are responsible for road accidents.