New Delhi: The Delhi’s State Transport Authority (STA) has made it mandatory for all drivers in the capital to paste a minimum of four stickers on their cabs asking the passengers to disable its child-lock before starting their journey.
A resolution was passed in STA’s board meeting on Monday keeping women’s safety in consideration. Cabs in Delhi will get permits only if drivers put the stickers informing the passengers about the car’s child-lock system.
“To ensure the safety of passengers, especially women, the STA Board has approved the transport department’s child-lock proposal for cabs,” STA member and Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal told Hindustan Times.
“Cab owners will have to put stickers informing about the lock system near the door handles on all four sides of the car. Also, pasting two more on the front and rear will also be allowed,” he said.
The Motor Licensing Offices will be given directions not to issue taxi permits until a vehicle has the stickers on it. A notification will also be circulated on the same. The new law has to be implemented on the two lakh taxis running on city roads, the traffic police and the enforcement team of the transport department have also been asked to prosecute violators.
The move comes after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) took suo motu cognizance of the issue and maintained that presence of child lock increases possibilities of crime against women, as passengers cannot open cab doors from inside if the child lock feature is enabled.
Speaking to HT, DCW chief Swati Jaihind, who had introduced this idea, said, “It was much needed as a woman should feel safe while travelling in a cab. The stickers would make passengers aware that something called child lock even exists and that they should disable it at the start of the journey,” she said.
Jaihind added that the Delhi government has also assured of taking up the issue of removing child locks completely from cabs with the ministry of road transport and highways (MORTH).
“Yes, we are going to take this issue with MORTH. If the cab driver activates the child lock, a passenger is not able to open the door from inside if they wish to. It increases the possibility of a crime,” a transport official said.
The official added that the proposal makes sense also because the service is mostly used by adults.