Hyderabad: In a lesson they will not forget in a hurry, 10 parents on were jailed by a Hyderabad court on Thursday for allowing their minor children to drive a vehicle. In a first of its kind, a 14 year-old minor was sent to remand for a day in a juvenile home, to curb the menace of minors driving vehicles. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 500 apart from sending the parents of the minors behind the bars. They were also charged under section 180 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

A road safety activist said, "If police book 10 more such cases on a regular basis, and if the court jails all of them, then we will surely see a change in parents as well as the impact on minors." This instance of parents being jailed comes on the heels of 45 parents being imprisoned in February alone. The police so far have registered 1,079 cases against minors for flouting norms.

A campaign has also been launched by the Hyderabad police and in this regard, Hyderabad Traffic Joint Commissioner of Police Dr V. Ravinder said, "We are launching special drives in a number of places in the city to curb minor driving. Nobody is supposed to drive the vehicle without driving license. The cases are not only filed against the minor drivers but also against the owners of the vehicles and also parents. Parents of the minors are also liable, nobody should give the vehicles to persons and minors who are not having licenses."

Apart from this, the city police also conducts Operation Chabutra time and again which means they detain youths for loitering on the streets aimlessly after midnight. Last year, the South Zone police detained 162 youngsters including 15 minors in 'Operation Chabutra' in Old City for wandering on streets without any purpose and creating nuisance after midnight. The youths are left after they are given counseling in front of their parents.