When ‘reelmakers’ turn troublemakers: How Delhi Police is cracking down on youngsters violating traffic rules – all for social media likes

A major cause of concern among police officials is youngsters performing risky stunts on their bikes and capturing them on video.

According to police records, in April alone, at least half-a-dozen instances of officials cracking down on people creating “law and order situations” and violating traffic laws by performing stunts on their vehicle to capture them on video have taken place.

Most of the accused are in their 20s and have a social media following, for whom they resort to performing such acts, said senior officers.

Who are the offenders

On April 17, 28 bikers were arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly endangering public safety by “driving recklessly” without helmets near India Gate with the intention to record reels for social media.

DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla said as soon as the group was spotted, a little after midnight, teams of Parliament Street Police Station and Kartavya Path Police Station intercepted and arrested them. Their bikes were seized and they were booked under rash driving.

One of them is a 23-year-old, who works at a factory in Noida. “We did not intend to violate any traffic law and drive rashly…I keep posting videos on my bike on my Instagram account. On that day too, we just wanted to have some fun…” he told The Indian Express.

Another accused, who is in the first-year of an IT course at a private college, claimed the group was not planning on performing any stunts. “We were shooting the video as a few of us had bought new bikes and just wanted to flaunt them on social media,” he said.

Both don’t have any history of police involvement. While the 28 bikers were let go of shortly after arrest, their bikes are yet to be released.

Couple in “spider costumes”

On Friday, the Delhi Police penalised two persons under the Motor Vehicles Act for posing as Spider Man and Spider Woman. Donning their “spider costumes”, Aditya, 20, and Anjali, 19, were seen recording a video on a bike without helmets, a licence plate or rear-view mirrors on the Dwarka Expressway. Both were fined Rs 21,000 for violation of various traffic laws.

Aditya, officers said, also had a previous challan for performing a similar act in the past. Both of them are full-time Youtubers with a combined following of nearly 11,000.

Despite the couple’s faces not being visible under the attire, police managed to trace them in a few hours after spotting the woman stepping out of the Najafgarh Metro Station.

On Saturday, another video showed a man, later identified as 26-year-old Vipin Kumar, a dairy worker who lives in New Usmanpur, sitting in the middle of GT Road on a chair with his bike parked next to him, blocking vehicular traffic in the process. When someone reminds him that it was against the rules, he is seen coolly responding with: “Badmaash hain ji (We are mischievous, so what?)”.

A pressing concern

Senior officers told The Indian Express that the issue of commuters flouting laws in a bid to make reels and keep up with social media trends has been discussed with the district and traffic police at the headquarters level.

Said an officer, “The information about these accounts is generally kept with the Cyber Police Stations of the districts concerned and their social media accounts are suspended (after a request to the company) or monitored after the first incident…traffic inspectors (TIs), apart from district patrolling teams, have been adequately briefed to keep a check on such instances.”

The accused are mostly booked under various sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. Besides, they are booked under IPC sections pertaining to danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation apart from punishment for wrongful restraint.

Teams of police have been told to especially look for such persons on crucial highways and flyovers, since such locations are the most preferred for social media posts.

Last month, a man, identified as Pradeep Dhaka, a Youtuber, was arrested, fined Rs 36,000 and booked under IPC sections pertaining to assaulting police personnel after he blocked traffic at a Paschim Vihar flyover and set a police barricade on fire for social media views.

Another officer said that often, such persons are difficult to trace as their vehicles have heavy aftermarket customisation such as tinted windows and fancy number plates. “We suspect that more than a 1,000 such accounts posting dangerous reels of road stunts and other acts endangering public life and causing traffic congestion are active on social media…” added the official.