Two days after Kiran Bedi turned cop to enforce helmet rule in Puducherry, AIADMK MLAs smash headgear at Assembly

Puducherry: Legislators belonging to the opposition AIADMK in Puducherry on Tuesday broke helmets on the premises of the Assembly to protest against the rule making wearing of the headgear mandatory without creating awareness on its use. The MLAs staged the protest to also condemn Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi’s action to implement the rule and flayed her style of functioning which, they said, was arbitrary. [caption id=“attachment_2236074” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi stopped two-wheelers on a busy road in the Union Territory on Sunday and asked bikers to wear helmets. Reuters[/caption] Leader of the legislature wing of the AIADMK A Anbalagan and his colleagues in the Assembly A Baskar and Vayyapuri Manikandan brought a helmet each and smashed them on the floor. The party has a strength of four members in the House. The other legislator K A U Asana was away in his native place of Karaikal, and hence could not be present during the agitation. On Sunday, Bedi said the territorial law secretary had requested the Madras High Court to deploy a mobile magistrate traffic court to ensure motorcyclists wear helmets. A day after DGP Sundari Nanda said the rule regarding helmet use would be enforced from 11 February in the Union Territory, Bedi in her WhatsApp message to mediapersons had said, “It is now time and opportunity for relentless adoption of the rule by law enforcement agencies to bring down fatalities on roads.” “There shall be no relaxation, exceptions and interference regarding enforcement of the helmet rule,” she had said. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy at a press conference had said, “Awareness on the importance of helmet use may be created through a month-long drive. The directive of the Supreme Court on compulsory wearing of helmets should be honoured by all without exception.”