Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Updated

Mangaluru, Dec 24: In strange case, a car was towed away by the traffic police while a 7-year-old child was still inside the vehicle. The incident took place in the limits of Mangaluru East police station on Thursday, December 24.

The owners of the vehicle are said to be residents of Mijar, Mangaluru.

It is learnt that Divya had come to Mallikatta in the city in her car along with the driver and two children. Her car was parked by the side of a residential complex there, after which she went to a shop nearby along with one of her sons. The driver and the fourth standard student, Prakhyath, were inside the car. The driver noticed that Divya had left behind her mobile phone inside the car and went to hand it over to her when the police arrived and towed the vehicle away.

The driver and Divya, unaware of the development, started searching for the boy. With the help of locals they checked CCTV camera recording from a spot and found that Kadri police had towed the vehicle away.

The action by the police has come in for widespread criticism. Divya said that the car was not parked in the no parking zone and it was not on the road. She said she is aware of the rules and hence the car had been parked at a spot which was not a no-parking zone.

She said that she had learnt about the abduction of a boy at Ujire and was concerned when her son was not to be seen. She said that her son had been warned not to open the door because of the possibility of the abductors tricking the children. She said she has refused to pay the fine.

Meanwhile, the traffic authorities maintained that given the car had tinted windows, they were unable to detect the presence of any passengers inside the vehicle. They also maintained that the reason for towing the car, a Swift Dzire, was because it was parked on a footpath in front of Girias in Kadri.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic), A Nataraj, said that the police did not notice the presence of a boy as the windows were tinted. The car was parked on the footpath and no one had come there even after the car was locked and the police waited for 15 minutes, he added.

As per sources, it is reported that the matter has been solved through dialogue between the parties concerned.