Tannuka Juneja
The Union government has asked e-commerce company Amazon to stop selling devices designed to disable seat belt alarms in cars, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
While the sale of such devices is not illegal, they have come under intense scrutiny after the death of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and his passenger Jehangir Pandole in a car accident in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on Sunday.
Police investigation revealed that Mistry and Pandole, who were in the back seat of the Mercedes, were not wearing seat belts.
On Tuesday, Gadkari said seat belts would be mandatory for all passengers and fines would be imposed for not wearing them in the back seat of the vehicle. The government has already imposed penalties for not wearing seat belts in the front seats.
Also Read: Will Soon Fine Those Who Don’t Wear Seat Belts in Car’s Back Seat: Gadkari
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the union minister said Amazon sells a metal clip that can be inserted into the seat belt slot to deactivate the alarm when the driver and front passenger are not using it.,
“People buy clips from Amazon to evade wearing seat belts,” he said. “We have sent a notice to Amazon to stop [selling them].”
Gadkari said that 1.5 lakh Indians died in road accidents last year. According to the World Bank, one person will die on the streets every four minutes in 2021.
