Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (MM/NR) 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje

Mangalore, Nov 15: A car plying with illegal ‘PRESS’ board turned turtle here at Padil, owing to the reckless driving of a woman who was behind the wheel.  Eye-witnesses said that she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of accident and was involved in heated arguments with the locals who gathered on the spot later on Wednesday November 14 night.

There was another man in the car along with the woman who was driving the car, sources added. A bottle of alcohol was found inside the car. In all two persons were injured in the accident when the car rammed against an on-coming jeep.  As a result she lost control over her car which overturned in turn.  Initial enquiries revealed that the said damaged car belongs to a certain Sundaram, a resident of Valachil.

The car which was on its way to Valachil, first hit an electric pole on the wayside and then from there ricocheted and rammed into an on-coming jeep, before it turned turtle. What is shocking is that the lady under the alleged influence of alcohol in a drunken stupor slapped a person who was helping her out of the car to attend to any injuries.

This unjust action on her part earned the ire of the crowd of onlookers, who were then on the verge of venting out their anger at the ill-mannered lady. Fortunately, the Kankanady station police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, before any member of the crowd could have taken any untoward step towards her.

Misuse of ‘PRESS’:

The moot point to be noted in this incident is that the owner of the car had affixed a huge ‘PRESS’ sticker in the frontal and back-side windscreen of the car which is legally not allowed in the city. The city police authorities have time and again expressed grave concern over anti-social elements in the district misusing these stickers.

In fact, when B Dayanand was the SP of the district, it had been found that many persons were misusing the press board in the district by affixing the same illegally. By affixing the ‘PRESS’ board many criminals misuse the vehicles for theft, burglary, prostitution etc. As a result many journalists had urged the district police to take stringent action in this matter.
 
Partly due to this pressure as well as due to regular occurrences of misuse, the police department decided to issue registered ‘PRESS’ stickers for the vehicles used by the journalists, as per the recommendation of Dakshina Kannada Working Journalists’ Association.

However, in this latest incident the said damaged car was displaying the ‘PRESS’ sticker, which is banned in Dakshina Kannada and that which is not issued by the police department. The Kankanady police have registered a case.