Hyderabad police authorities managed to confiscate 1,000 of them in a raid against illegal silencers. A video was recently released online with images of all of these confiscated silencers. After the seizure, police ordered a road roller to destroy all 1,000 silencers to make a statement. Just a few days ago, Pune police did something similar.
Hyderabad Police destroys 1000 silencers
The Hyderabad Police destroyed around 1,000 modified silencers of bicycles.
As per the amendment of Section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, installing a blast horn and modified silencers on your bike which cause air and noise pollution will attract a fine up to Rs. 10000/- and imprisonment… pic.twitter.com/XnC4rsS7xI
– Naveena (@TheNaveena) April 1, 2024
The pictures of these silencers being crushed were kindly provided Naveena from X (formerly Twitter). The video was shared with the caption “Hyderabad police officers destroyed around 1,000 modified silencers on bikes.”
The post added, “As per the amendment to Section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, installing a blast horn and modified silencers on your bike which cause air and noise pollution will attract a fine up to Rs.10000/- and imprisonment up to to six months.”
According to the post, this penalty only applies if the pressure horn or modified silencer produces more than 80 decibels of noise.
Why is this raid happening?
As previously mentioned, there is a crackdown on modified silencers across the country. Now you may be wondering why modified silencers are subjected to testing. The answer to this is increasing noise pollution.
These modified silencers for cyclists often cause chaos on public roads. They speed their bikes on roads, which makes citizens insecure. In addition, by eliminating the need for catalytic converters, they also emit more harmful gases.
Internet users’ reactions
A number of people in the comments of the post appreciated this action by the Hyderabad Police. However, some people criticized the actions of the police authorities. They said if these aftermarket mufflers were “illegal”. Then why are stores and websites like Amazon allowed to sell them freely?
Now it seems like a reasonable point. However, the reason for this is that stores and websites like Amazon only sell them for “off-road” use. This puts these silencers in a gray area. Some time ago Royal Enfield also sold these silencers as “off-road” parts.
Pune police also destroyed 571 silencers
Back in February, it was reported that Pune police authorities had smashed 571 illegal silencers in a similar operation. Authorities even went a step further to ensure these silencers were captured.
For this they issued a new WhatsApp number. People can directly report their complaints about modified silencers on this special WhatsApp number.
It was also reported that this initiative was completed in just 12 days. The Pune Police managed to impose fines on 2,183 motorcyclists with modified silencers. This drive was launched by the Pune Police on February 7 to curb the noise pollution caused by these drivers.
In addition to Pune, Hyderabad police have already destroyed 1,000 more silencers before this latest raid. It was also reported that the law enforcement agencies in Margao also seized around 40 motorcycles for the same reason. At this time, 45 cases related to illegal alterations have been registered. It appears more cities are joining this list of raids.
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