Modified Mahindra Thar Busted For Aftermarket Wheels And Fat Tyres (Video)
Jammu has lately been very aggressive with its crackdown on modified vehicles. The police and other enforcement agencies are now conducting drives to find and penalise vehicle owners who have modified their rides. In India, modifications are illegal. The latest crackdowns, however, are in the wake of the incident from Jammu’s Gandhi Nagar, in which a Thar ROXX driver hit a man riding a scooter with his SUV. The aggression and inhuman behavior sparked massive outrage among people, eventually leading to the police cracking down on all modified cars.
A video shared on Facebook shows one such incident from Jammu. The police stopped a modified Mahindra Thar, and penalised the owner for having modified it with aftermarket alloy wheels and extremely fat tyres. The vehicle even had a provocative sticker on its fiber top, towards the rear, which read ‘ Insured by the mafia. You hit me, we hit you’.
The glass panel at the rear was blacked out. The vehicle even had an aftermarket grille and modified lamps. There were enough reasons to call this build illegal.
At the time when it was stopped by the police, the Thar even had a national flag on it- probably to celebrate independence day. It had atleast four people inside- two at the front and two in the back seat. All of them were asked to vacate the vehicle, as the cops wanted to conduct a thorough search inside. They oblige. All of them seem to be youngsters.
The sticker enrages the policemen. Considering Jammu is a sensitive state, provocative lines such as this need to be dealt with seriously. The cops shout at the youth for having it on their Thar, and ask them to get the same off. Seeing the situation worsen, the boys remove the sticker. The cops then look at the plus size wheels.
The stock Thar offers two tyre options- 245/75 R16 and 255/65 R18, varying with trim. On this vehicle, however, these have been replaced with much larger wheels and fat off-road tyres. We don’t know the exact size of these. Such modifications are common in many parts of Punjab and Chandigarh, and it isn’t rare to find Thars with oversized tyres in Jammu either.
The police have been targeting vehicles with upsized aftermarket wheels in many parts of the country. After the Thar ROXX incident, the Jammu police department has toughened its enforcement. It is now actively picking out vehicles with aftermarket tyres and other modifications. The above case is just one of many.
Interestingly, Thar owners are targeted specifically in most places- probably due to the bad reputation that they have earned for themselves recently.
Recently, a video surfaced online, showing a horrifying incident. In Jammu City’s Gandhi Nagar, a man driving a Mahindra Thar ROXX was trying to overtake a Hyundai Alcazar on a single lane road. Suddenly, a Honda Activa being ridden by an elderly man approached from the opposite direction.
The ROXX driver failed to notice the scooter rider in time. Fortunately, the two did not collide head-on. However, there was some contact involved, and the rider fell on the road.
Soon after this, the senior citizen managed to stand up and stood there looking in the direction that the ROXX went. Right after this, the ROXX reverses onto him and knocks him down. The impact throws him onto the ground.
The reckless driver did not stop. He came out of the vehicle and stood in front of the elderly man, stared at him in anger for some time, and fled the scene. The entire incident was recorded on multiple surveillance cameras nearby and the cops soon detained the actual owner of the ROXX. He wasn’t, however, the driver involved in this incident. The vehicle has been seized.
A major enforcement drive followed the unfortunate incident. Soon, the Jammu Administration imposed a complete ban on the display and sale of automotive accessories like oversized tyres, pressure horns, musical horns, metallic bumpers, high-intensity halogen lights, tinted or reflective window films, roof rail spoilers, and modified exhausts in the district.
Section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act clearly prohibits vehicle owners from doing modifications which would make its registered specifications differ from those supplied by the manufacturer. The new ban is based on this.
The Senior Superintendent of police and Traffic Senior Superintendent of the place will be responsible for ensuring proper enforcement. A joint committee will also be formed to conduct periodic inspections and ensure compliance.
Since the new ruling affects the aftermarket industry seriously, various dealers have already voiced concerns and expressed their unhappiness with the move.