If you are caught by the police helping a stranger by offering them a ride, then there are chances of you getting fined for it, as this Navi Mumbai resident found out.

On June 18, 32-year-old Nitin Nair was caught giving a lift to three strangers including a senior citizen, who were stranded in the rain, and was fined Rs 1,500 for his ‘good deed’, Mumbai Mirror reported. The cops also took his licence, which resulted in him

Navi Mumbai resident Nitin Nair spotted a group of people, including an elderly man, stranded in rain and offered them a lift. The traffic cops caught him in the act and penalised him for it.

In a post that he shared that has gone viral, Nair said, “The police officer then started to write a receipt and asked me to hand over my license to him. I asked him for the reason to which he said "It is illegal to give a lift to unknown people"

I thought that he must be just making it up and wants to make some money from me. But he was serious. He took my license and gave me the receipt. He asked me to go to the police station next day, pay the fine, and get the license back.

Section 66(1) read with 192(a) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 says that no owner of a motor vehicle shall use a vehicle as a transport vehicle whether or not such vehicle is actually carrying any passengers or goods save in accordance with conditions of a permit granted by a Regional or State Transport Authority.

Even after his licence was confiscated and he was given a challan, his co-passengers were not asked to take some other mode of transport. Nair in fact dropped them to their destination after the incident with the traffic cop.

The following day, Nair went to the police station and to get his licence, but was told to get a receipt from the court before he could get his licence back. “On June 22, I was called to the court at 10 am. I went there at 9.30 AM and they made me sit in the court corridor till 1 pm. I had to stand there as if I was some criminal in front of the judge, with the courtroom filled with lawyers and other people discussing their respective cases. The judge called out my name and I had to accept my mistake and come out of the courtroom. I was fined Rs 2,000 but after multiple requests I eventually paid Rs 1,500," he said in his post.

While speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Nitin Pawar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) for Navi Mumbai, said, if any person has good intentions, the law must not be applied in such cases. “We must encourage people to help other people in a crisis,” he added.