Thrissur: Kerala police have slapped a fine of Rs ₹2.5 lakh on the car driver who obstructed the path of an ambulance in Thrissur, The Free Press Journal reported.
The footage showing insensitive behavior of the driver went viral on social media.
The ambulance was seen trammeled by a Maruti Suzuki car as it tried to overtake the car.
As the car was speeding along the two-lane road, the ambulance was seen following with its sire blaring.
Turning a deaf ear to the siren, the car driver blocked the ambulance driver’s every attempt to overtake.
As the footage emerged, many on social media criticized the car driver.
The car owner was fined for hindering the duties of an authority authorized under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The car did not have a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC).
Under Section 194E of the Motor Vehicles Act, any individual hindering a fire service vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle specified by the State Government will be punished up to six months of imprisonment, a fine of Rs 10,000 or both.
A user on social media urged Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari to ‘ensure that as part of road safety rules and laws, giving way to ambulances is emphasized, and that those who don’t comply are punishable? Yesterday I witnessed a similar incident where an ambulance driver had to honk the horn to ask for space’.
While another person responded to the video saying "Such inhumane and selfish acts must be a non-bailable offense. He must rot in jail’.