April 27: Police have started a case, apparently the first, against employees of a fuel pump for selling petrol to bikers without helmets.

Last July, the city police had issued the "No Helmet No Petrol" notification after chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at a meeting with police officers that lawlessness on the road would not be tolerated.

Many pumps flout the rule but cops have either let them off with warnings or looked the other way.

A sergeant of the East traffic guard had recorded the violation at the pump on AJC Bose Road near Shakespeare Sarani on camera and submitted it as visual proof with details of violations in his complaint with Beniapukur police station yesterday evening.

Based on his complaint, officers of the police station have started a case against salesmen of the pump under Section 188 of the IPC.

The section carries a punishment of jail for a maximum of six months and/or fine of Rs 1,000.

Officers in the traffic department could not recall an FIR against any other fuel pump in the city for violating the "No Helmet No Petrol" rule.

Since the rule came into effect last July, not much has been done at the ground level to implement it.

If anyone is caught in a fuel pump without a helmet, he/she is asked to leave and return with a helmet.

The visual proof submitted by the sergeant will be examined to identify the employees of the pump who had violated the rule, an officer of Beniapukur police station said.

"Such offences that could lead to loss of life should be dealt with more seriously. I am surprised why no one had reported this offence earlier," a retired IPS officer who has served in the traffic department said.

"They (pump employees) are openly violating the rule by selling petrol to bikers without helmets."