Shillong, Sep 6: The arrest of a city businessman Mebanshem Snaitang and 12 men believed to be his bodyguards along with the seizure of simulated weapons spreading terror proved absolutely correct the Supreme Court judgement, banning black tinted glasses because it said criminally-oriented people hide behind these black tinted vehicles.
The seized vehicles—a red Audi sports car (lacking licence plates), a black Mahindra Scorpio (ML 05AF 0309) and a black Toyota Innova (T0922ML7411A) had tinted glass and one of them was fitted with a siren.
This was not the first. In 2023, police arrested one Richard Tiplang Swer who had been posing as an IB officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as officer of the Police Special Branch for duping people on the pretext of giving jobs. A Bolero bearing registration number ML-05-Z-3007 with siren and VIP blinker, mobile, laptop and incriminating papers were also seized.
Voice of the People Party (VPP) President Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said that moving around in public places with twelve gunmen, is an attempt to intimidate people which can be termed as an act of terrorism.
“This is the result of the VIP culture that MDA government has been promoting in the state of Meghalaya,” he said.
Basaiawmoit chose to make an early assurance that his party will put an end to “VIP culture” once it comes to power in 2028.
In 2012, the Supreme Court banned the use of tinted glass, restricting visions beyond permissible limit as fixed under the Motor Vehicles Act, in vehicles. However, in Meghalaya the major bugbear for members of the public is seeing such vehicles getting a free run on roads.
When the Supreme Court gave its ruling in the case it had specifically noted that black tinted glasses on vehicles is a “social evil”.
The Highland Post has continuously campaigned for strict implementation of the apex court order, when scores of black tinted vehicles are seen freely prowling the roads of the city and beyond.
The Shillong Traffic Police (STP) in 2024 imposed fines amounting to Rs 13.35 lakh in 1,788 cases on vehicles that were using tinted windows illegally.
The drive carried out by the police started in July with a promise to continue the mission. There was however a let-up on the part of the police until the government faced public backlash after a VIP escort accompanying tourism minister Paul Lyngdoh reportedly killed a civilian, Huddersfield Rymbui en route to the Cherry Blossom Festival on November 15.
On November, 2024 Chief Minister Conrad Sangma himself admitted there are a “large number of complaints” on “VIP culture” and announced formulation of a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to regulate sirens, tinted glasses and flickering lights in the State, which has not been taken up till date.
Permission to use tinted windows is provided by a state security committee consisting of representatives of the police, Transport Department and Law Department as well as the Meghalaya Director General of Police.
The last figure given was that 123 VIPs had been cleared to use the black tinted glasses on car windows. The authorities had refused to share the names on this list, even as the public demanded to know so that they would be able to identify the vehicles illegally using black tinted.
Now with this arrest it can be seen that unscrupulous men in nefarious activities were protected by this lack of transparency and once again the demand is for the list of vehicles permitted to use black tinted to be made public.
