Today, social media has become an integral part of our lives. Content creators and influencers have huge follower bases. People often film crazy reels to gain followers and increase their online presence. In the past few months, we have come across several instances of people causing inconvenience to the public, filming reels, and taking photos in public. A recent example is when a politician’s son blocked a highway in Chhattisgarh to film his SUV and those of his friends. In the days that followed, the police department tracked down the offenders and seized the SUVs involved.
In July this year, a shocking case of privilege and recklessness surfaced on social media. In Chhattisgarh, Vedansh Sharma, a politician’s son, brought traffic on the Bilaspur-Raipur National Highway (NH130) to a complete standstill, trying to film an Instagram reel on the open road. He and his team parked their convoy of high-end SUVs on the road to pose for the cameras.
This case happened within the Hirri and Chakarbhatha police station limits. Eyewitnesses said Sharma had just purchased two new Fortuners and rolled out in style with a fleet of other black SUVs. The convoy parked right across the Bilaspur-Raipur highway, blocking traffic on both sides. Drones and professional cameramen soon started filming the scene.
These videos were later shared on various social media platforms. They showed Toyota Fortuners, Ford Endeavours, Mahindra Thar, Scorpio-N, and other high-end SUVs, parked across the highway. If you look closely, you can also see the chaos that it caused.
Most passersby chose not to intervene, intimidated by the influential crowd. The videos soon went viral and sparked controversy and outrage online. Following the same, Sharma took down the clip and even deleted his Instagram account.
The video soon reached higher officials and authorities. The High Court bench led by Chief Justice Ramesh Kumar Sinha and Justice BD Guru strongly criticised the Bilaspur Police for being lineant in the matter.
It also questioned why only minor challans were issued under Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act and why the vehicles were not seized immediately. It even asked the government to file an affidavit explaining why tougher charges weren’t slapped from the start.
The police department tried to explain, saying that they had ‘written to the RTO’ to suspend the license of the drivers involved, but no further action was apparently taken. As the matter continued to escalate, the police swung into action. The six SUVs involved in the incident were seized, and an FIR was lodged against the violators.
Talking to the media, Bilaspur SSP Rajnesh Singh said, “Blocking a national highway is a criminal offence. All those involved will face strict legal consequences.” A video of the seized vehicles has also been shared online. It shows them parked in front of the police station.
A similar incident occurred on the Pune–Bengaluru National Highway (NH-48), in Satara as well. Celebrating his purchase of a brand-new Mahindra Scorpio-N, Om Praveen Jadha, together with his friends, blocked the highway for filming reels.
A video of the same was later shared on social media. The filming blocked two of the three available lanes, and caused major inconvenience to vehicles around. The traffic came to a near-standstill for around 20 minutes.
The video of this violation soon went viral, sparking strict action from authorities. A case was registered against the offenders, and Jadhav was also asked to record a video confession, as part of corrective action.