The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has registered a case against the ‘Safe Kerala’ road surveillance project, which uses AI-enabled traffic enforcement. The complaint alleges that the project divides the state’s population into two classes, the rulers and the ruled, by exempting ministers and other highly placed individuals from penalties resulting from road safety violations. Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju had stated that ’emergency vehicles’ would be insulated from penalties, including official vehicles of ministers and top bureaucrats, along with ambulances and police vehicles on emergency missions.
The complaint filed by a Palakkad-based human rights activist, Boban Mattumantha, argued that the exemption of ministers and top bureaucrats weakens the MVD’s claim that the Safe Kerala project was an attempt to ensure public safety. Mattumantha further alleged that accidents have been caused by the official vehicles of ministers and their pilot vehicles. ‘So the exemption of the vehicles of ministers and top bureaucrat weakens the MVD’s claim that the Safe Kerala project was an attempt to ensure the safety of the people and strengthens the suspicion that the project was merely an attempt to fleece the public and fatten the coffers of the government,’ the complaint said.
The complainant stated that if any group should be given an exemption, it should be health professionals. ‘A minister has no greater emergency than a doctor,’ Mattumantha said, citing examples of Prime Ministers of other countries who have been fined for traffic violations. He further alleged that the surveillance cameras would detect violations by VIP vehicles, but penalty notices/challans would not be sent to them from the control office. The project aims to send SMS alerts to vehicle owners upon detecting traffic violations, with minimum fines ranging from Rs 250 for illegal parking to Rs 2,000 for mobile phone use while driving.
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