June 26: City police have waived traffic fines in at least 96 cases so far this year based on Facebook posts contesting the veracity of the charges.

Sources in Lalbazar said the total number of "erroneous citation" cases would be much higher since only a small percentage of such cases were reported through Facebook. "The traffic police are more proactive in granting waivers to complaints posted on Facebook which is a public forum. Those who write letters or emails to Lalbazar sometimes do not even get an acknowledgement," said a source at the city police headquarters.

In May and June (till last Wednesday), 53 people who had challenged fines on the traffic police's Facebook page were informed through the social network that their cases had been "considered" and they need not pay the penalty.

Asked if the police were more proactive in addressing complaints about citation cases on Facebook compared to other forms of communication, deputy commissioner (traffic) V. Solomon Nesakumar replied: "Your information is wrong. It happens irrespective of the mode of communication."

Metro had reported on June 12 how two traffic-violation cases had been slapped against management consultant Shyamal Shankar Bhattacharya when he was abroad and his car was parked in the garage at home.

Despite writing an email contesting the cases and sending a letter by SpeedPost to Lalbazar months ago, he has yet to receive an acknowledgement, let alone a review.

The police have opened a Citation Violation Cell in Lalbazar with civilian employees who are supposed to report violations after watching CCTV footage from 58 intersections. Several officers told Metro that the majority of erroneous citations were being reported from this cell.

Sources in the traffic department said that if not convinced about a particular citation case, it is best to contest a challan preferably within three weeks from the date of the alleged offence.

But why three weeks? "Even if a particular crossing is under CCTV surveillance, footage is stored only for 20-21 days," an officer explained.

According to the rule-book, if someone challenges a citation challan, officers in the traffic department would first check if the mentioned crossing is covered by a CCTV camera or not.

If footage is available, it is used to come to a conclusion. In the absence of footage, the police may ask for other circumstantial evidence from the complainant to support his/her claim.

Just as 96 cases have been quashed on grounds of faulty citations, many have been informed on social media that the cases against them have been found to be "genuine".

Joy Mojumder, a company executive, installed a GPS device in his Honda City after being slapped with citation cases that he suspected were incorrect. "I received a challan last year for a violation at a traffic signal I had not gone past that day. I thereafter installed a device that stores the car's location, whether the engine is on or off. The next time I received a citation challan that I thought was faulty, I challenged it with readings on my GPS device," Mojumder recounted to Metro.

He contested the case on Facebook on April 18. The fine was waived on May 10.