On Friday (May 1) police started releasing the vehicles seized during the coronavirus lockdown.

“It has been decided to return the vehicles,” said police commissioner Bhaskar Rao.

Footage from Sunday (May 3) shows hundreds of motorbikes stacked together and masked owners queueing to collect their vehicles.

According to local media, car and two-wheeler owners stopped for violating movement restrictions must pay Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, respectively, according to the order issued by a division bench of chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and justice Vishwajit Shetty.

This sum is to be regarded as a security deposit for now, but could be treated as fine later if relevant authorities rule that the person had ignored lockdown restrictions without a genuine need.

After the Karnataka high court passed directions in this regard Police will start releasing the vehicles seized during the lockdown.

Car and two-wheeler owners booked for violating movement curbs must pay Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, respectively, according to the order issued by a division bench of chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and justice Vishwajit Shetty. This sum will be regarded as a security deposit for now. But it could be treated as fine later if relevant authorities rule that the person had ignored the restrictions without a genuine need.

Before taking their vehicles, the owners will have to execute a bond before the police officer concerned, as required under section 102 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and submit an undertaking that they won’t disregard lockdown conditions again.

The vehicles were impounded under sections 188 of the Indian Penal Code and section 51 (1)(b) of the Disaster Management Act. Section 188 is a non-cognisable offence, so the permission of jurisdictional magistrate is necessary for any decision in the matter. “It has been decided to return the vehicles,” said police commissioner Bhaskar Rao.