Court slaps Rs 1,000 fine on two for not wearing mask

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 20

To teach violators a lesson, a local court has imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each on two persons for their failure to wear masks in public places yesterday.

Another person was fined for running a shop late in the night violating the lockdown norms.

This is for the first time that a local court has imposed a fine on the violators of the lockdown norms. The court imposed the fine on the violators after the police presented challans against them. The police have registered an FIR against them under Section 188 of the IPC. Masks were made compulsory for everyone in Chandigarh after the lockdown was imposed and not wearing it was made a punishable offence. Apart from police personnel, the administration also authorised certain officers of the administration and the MC for issuing challans for this offence. A fine of Rs 500 was fixed for the violation.

The challans were presented before the Court of TPS Randhawa, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh. In one case, the accused, Ram Khelawan, was found not wearing mask during the Covid-19 lockdown on April 29 near the light point, Shastri Nagar, Mani Majra. Vinod was found running the shop from his house despite the fact that the lockdown was imposed from 9 am to 5 pm. He was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 500 under Section 188 of the IPC. Another resident, Madan Lal, was found not wearing mask during the lockdown on April 25 near the Government School, Kishangarh.

Finding a prima facie case, a notice of accusation under Section 188 of the IPC was served on the accused to which all of them pleaded guilty and did not claim trial. After hearing, the court imposed fine as all of them pleaded guilty voluntarily.