A court in Srinagar has directed the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to submit a report on the mass confiscation of two-wheelers in the city, at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to visit the Union Territory in October.
“The SSP is directed to call the report from all police stations within Srinagar regarding the issue within 10 days,” a Mobile Magistrate, Traffic, said in an order.
Violation of MV Act
The court order came after Naveed Bukhtiyar, a social activist, pleaded before the court that in the past one month the Jammu and Kashmir police have been “detaining two-wheelers illegally in violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act and releasing the vehicles by exercising the power of a traffic judge”.
“The illegal action has not only caused humiliation, mental agony but also took away fundamental rights of the people,” the petition said.
Locals have claimed that in a major crackdown in the last week of October against motorcyclists in Srinagar, the police seized two-wheelers “in spite of possessing valid documents” and “shifting them to police stations for prolonged detention”.
The crackdown came days after militants carried out targeted killings in the city, which left seven civilians dead. The police claimed that the militants were using two-wheelers to flee from the spot after carrying out the attacks.
