Misuse of red beacons on cars is menace to society: SC

Misuse of red beacon and siren, granted by government to VIPs, is a menace to society and it must be stopped, the Supreme Court observed on Monday, asking the Centre to frame rules to restrict its use to only persons holding constitutional posts.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and V Gopala Gowda asked the government to impose heavy and exemplary fine on its wrong use and granted two weeks time to Centre to respond to it.

"How can citizens be treated differently," the bench said while referring to the problems faced by people when VIPs with high security cover move in vehicles with red beacon and siren. "It is a menace to society," it said, adding such misuse "should be dealt with heavy hands and exemplary fine be imposed".

The bench was hearing a PIL filed by a Uttar Pradesh resident on misuse of red beacon.

Earlier, the bench had said the red light has become a status symbol and had said that police personnel, who are put on duty for giving security cover to VIPs, should be deployed for better purposes like making the roads safe for women. It had also directed Centre and all the states for giving the list of persons being protected either by the central government or by the state administration.

The bench had said that it would consider forming a new mechanism for assessing security threat to people on the basis of which protection is given to them.