A traffic constable fines a two-wheeler rider for not fixing a proper number plate at Income Tax roundabout in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

God save the traffic police.

For the past few days, traffic constables and officers on duty are having a hard time with motorists wearing their love for God on their sleeves. Make that on their bikes. A traffic constable came face to face with such a devout on Monday morning.

Posted at the Boring Road roundabout, the constable stopped a motorcyclist who did not have his registration plate on the front panel of the vehicle. The man in question, a bank employee, chose the front panel to proclaim his love for God.

The middle-aged bank employee told the constable: “Why are you stopping me. I am a god-fearing man and have God’s name on the front panel. What is the problem in it?” If that was not all, he went subjected the already-startled constable to a sermon.

Motorists without the registration plate fixed to the front panel of their vehicle — a clause of the Motor Vehicles Act — have been on the radar of the police for quite some time. From Saturday, the cops launched a drive to check traffic violations like this.

Police said the ongoing drive, mostly against two-wheeler drivers and errant autorickshaw drivers, has resulted in a fine of Rs 4,00,700 between June 8 and June 10. Sergeant major (traffic) Anil Kumar said the drive would continue until further orders of the traffic superintendent.

“People might give excuses but rules are rules. According to provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, the registration number has to be fixed on the front and rear panels of two-wheelers in a legible typeface. A fine of Rs 100 is collected. It multiplies though in case people do not have the necessary documents,” he said.

The constable at Boring Road roundabout, recounting his “godly” experience, said: “The man started giving me a sermon and said a few lines in Sanskrit. I was startled and confused. But at the end, he was fined.”

He is not the only one coming across such devout motorists on the roads. Several of his peers and seniors are coming across residents using their two-wheelers as a means to get closer to God, or a way to make the cops go soft on them.

Another cop said: “On Monday, a man was stopped on Frazer Road because the plate on his bike’s front panel read ‘Jai Maata Di’. When the police started to check the documents, the man got angry and starting telling us God rests everywhere, even in non-living things. He even pointed towards Gandhi Maidan where a religious sermon is on for the past few days. He was just not convinced that it was his mistake — he had violated traffic regulations.”

The motorists do not stop on God — caste and smart talk are also attempts to get out of a fine.

An officer said: “Several motorists try to get out of paying fines through caste equations. If they see the cop stopping them is of their own caste, then they try to start a conversation in the local dialect as a means to convince the personnel.”

“The police had recently stopped a youth speeding on his bike with the front panel reading ‘Dad says No Speeding’. He took out his flashy cellphone and got busy dropping names. The police will not stop anyone if they are following rules and regulations,” another police officer said.