E-Challan fines Karachi man for motorcycle stolen four years ago

KARACHI: In a bizarre incident, a motorcycle stolen four years ago in Karachi was recently issued an E-Challan for a traffic violation, ARY News reported.

According to the owner, the motorcycle had been stolen from the Tariq Road area near Tipu Sultan in 2020, and a complaint was duly registered at the Tipu Sultan Police Station. However, the bike was never recovered, and no progress was made in the case.

To the owner’s surprise, on October 27, he received an E-Challan of Rs 5,000 for riding without a helmet, the violation was recorded on the same stolen motorcycle.

Expressing frustration, the owner said that despite police records clearly showing the motorcycle as stolen, it appears to be still active on city roads, indicating negligence in recovery efforts.

He added that not only did the police fail to recover the vehicle, but the issuance of an E-Challan now adds insult to injury, raising serious questions about coordination between the police department and the traffic monitoring authorities.

The incident occurred just a day after another major flaw was reported in Karachi’s electronic traffic challan (E-Challan) system

According to the details, the e-challan, issued on October 27 at around 9:45 a.m, showed a violation for riding a motorcycle without a helmet at Teen Talwar, Clifton. However, the affected citizen claimed he was at his home in Scheme 33 at the time.

The e-challan, sent based on a vehicle’s number plate, reportedly contained glaring discrepancies. The image printed on the e-challan displayed one number plate, while the alphanumeric registration mentioned was completely different. Moreover, the data for the two number plates did not match in the official records.

The erroneous e-challan also added six demerit points to the citizen’s driving record, further aggravating his distress. “I have never received a challan in my life. This false penalty has caused me severe mental stress,” the affected person said.

The Karachi citizen was fined Rs2,500 for allegedly riding without a helmet. He questioned the credibility of the e-challan system, asking, “If such serious errors are happening in electronic challans, where can citizens turn for justice?”