- By Raju Kumar
- Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:42 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
It’s My Right: The Daily Jagran's special series - 'It's My Right' - has come up with another addition, in which we highlight your legal rights if you are wrongly challaned by the traffic authorities. Erroneous challan or inappropriate action by the traffic police is one of the issues that vehicle owners often face in India. Receiving a challan for a violation that you have not committed is really annoying. In the lack of appropriate information about the legal remedies, people often avoid the legal process and end up paying an undue fine. Whether it’s a technical error, mistaken identity, or incorrect vehicle details collection, people often find it difficult to address such issues, causing loss of hard-earned money.
Here, in the article, we attempted to explain that the legal fight against the wrong action by the authorities is not as tough as one assumes, if one is well-informed. If you have been issued a wrong traffic challan, without reason or with incorrect information, you have various legal rights that can help you present your case.
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988: What The Law Says
If you are challaned, you have the right to get a copy of the challan and know the reason. It is mandatory to provide a copy of the challan to the vehicle owner (whether online or on paper). The challan must include the correct section of the violation, the place, the date, and the name/ID of the officer.
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In some situations, the vehicle owner faces a confrontation with the traffic police personnel on the road. You need to understand that if you are not wrong, you should stand for yourself, as the law is for empowering common citizens.
Section 130(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 says traffic police are required to show their ID card if they are not in uniform, but even when in uniform, you have the right to ask to see their identification to verify they are a real officer.
Also, the same section says a driver must produce a license on demand by a police officer in uniform.
How To Check Whether A Challan Is Valid Or Not?
- You can check your challan by visiting the website - echallan.parivahan.gov.in.
- You can enter the vehicle number and see when, where, and for what reason the challan was issued.
- If the challan was automatically generated by a camera, you can check a photo on the website, which will show the moment you allegedly violated the traffic norm.
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How To File A Complaint Online
You can file a complaint on your state's Traffic Police website or app. For eg: if you are a resident of Delhi, you should log on traffic.delhipolice.gov.in, vis-à-vis in Maharashtra: mahatrafficechallan.gov.in
The Daily Jagran spoke to Delhi High Court lawyer Deeksha Mehrotra to throw the light on what one should do if one has been wrongly challaned by the authorities. "If you believe the challan is wrong, you should visit the official e-challan website and file a complaint there. But, to prove that the challan has been wrongly issued, you need to upload proof or supporting evidence related to your complaint. The Traffic Police Department do take care of complaints within the deadline. If you are not satisfied with the reply of the traffic authorities, you can approach the court," Mehrotra explained.
You must file a complaint within a 60-day window to raise the issue and refuse to pay the fine, as this can lead to more severe penalties like a court summons or a suspended license.
You can also directly contact the traffic police office through a call on the helpline number, send an email, or visit the traffic police station in person to explain the error with supporting documents.
You can also seek relief by using social media platforms. Tag the official traffic police handles on social media platforms to draw their attention to your issue.
We also spoke to Supreme Court advocate Ashish Chaubey, who said if a traffic challan has been wrongly issued against one's vehicle by the traffic police or if the challan has been imposed under the wrong section, he can file a complaint along with your evidence on the grievance portal of the e-challan website.
You can also appeal in the MACT (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal) court of your area with proper evidence, he added.
(Disclaimer: This article is part of the series 'It's My Right'. The views expressed in the article are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. To read more articles in the series, click here.)