PRESSBUREAU
IPS Satyanarayan Choudhary heads Mumbai Police’s wrong-side driving crackdown, deploying FIRs, vehicle seizures, licence action, CCTV and daily enforcement to target dangerous motorists.
For many Mumbai motorists, driving a few metres on the wrong side of the road may seem like a harmless shortcut: a way to avoid a signal, bypass a long U-turn or save a few minutes in the city’s relentless traffic.
For IPS officer Satyanarayan Choudhary, it is anything but harmless.
The 2004-batch Maharashtra cadre officer, serving as Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Mumbai, is spearheading an enforcement campaign that is reshaping how the city deals with wrong-side driving. Instead of stopping at challans, Mumbai Police is now registering FIRs, seizing vehicles and recommending driving licence action against offenders whose violations are deemed serious or deliberate.
The message is direct: a traffic violation that can endanger another person’s life will no longer be treated as a minor inconvenience.
From Challans to Criminal Cases
The urgency behind the campaign became painfully apparent after an alleged wrong-side riding incident in Amboli left eight-year-old Rewa Pawar critically injured on July 15.
Wrong-side driving creates an especially dangerous situation because motorists travelling legally do not expect a vehicle to suddenly emerge from the opposite direction. The result can be head-on collisions, abrupt braking, disrupted traffic flow and, in the worst cases, deaths.
The distinction is significant. Not every violation automatically leads to an FIR. According to Choudhary, minor violations can still attract a challan, while blatant, grievous or intentionally dangerous violations can result in criminal action
800 Vehicles a Day, 20 Criminal Cases
The scale of the campaign is notable.
In just one month, Mumbai Traffic Police acted against 5,199 wrong-side motorists, pushing the total number of such cases in 2026 to over 17,000 by the end of July.
That figure had stood at 11,579 on June 30.
Police are now acting against roughly 700 to 800 wrong-side offenders every day, with some days exceeding 800. Choudhary recalls that 824 actions were recorded in a single 24-hour period.
The campaign has also led to 15 to 20 criminal cases being registered daily against motorists whose actions are found to have endangered public safety.
And the problem is largely concentrated among two-wheeler riders, making bikers the main focus of the crackdown.
The numbers show how widespread the offence has become. Mumbai recorded 12,794 wrong-side driving cases in 2024 and 11,711 in 2025. By July 2026, the city had already exceeded both those annual totals.
A Vehicle’s History Can Decide What Happens Next
The crackdown does not end with apprehending an offender. Traffic officials review the vehicle’s history to establish whether the motorist is a habitual offender. Previous challans and violations are checked through the police system.
If the person has repeatedly breached traffic rules, the case can move into a more serious category.
So far, around 350 vehicles have been seized, according to Choudhary. Vehicles can also be seized when multiple violations or unauthorised modifications are found.
Pending challans are recovered, while reports are forwarded to the RTO for further action. Where vehicle modifications are involved, action can also be recommended concerning the vehicle’s registration.
For wrong-side violations, police can recommend suspension of the driving licence. The seized vehicle does not simply go back to the offender immediately. The person has to approach the court and present their case.
Mumbai’s 95 Crash Spots Under the Scanner
The campaign is not solely about catching motorists. Choudhary says Mumbai Traffic Police has identified around 95 locations linked to previous crashes or fatalities.
At these spots, the police are working with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on road-design interventions, signal changes, directional improvements and lighting-related concerns.
Work has already started at around 40 locations. Separately, Mumbai’s 41 traffic divisions have been instructed to identify locations where wrong-side driving is particularly frequent.
These could be places where motorists look for the nearest access point, areas with heavy pedestrian footfall, or stretches where residents repeatedly report violations during morning, evening or late-night hours.
The police are responding by deploying additional personnel at these locations. Even housing societies are becoming part of the enforcement network, with residents providing information about recurring wrong-side driving in their neighbourhoods.
CCTV, Citizens and a Simple Message
Technology is another important layer. CCTV footage and the e-challan system are being used to identify offenders, while field-level intelligence helps police determine exactly where and when violations occur.
For Choudhary, however, enforcement by itself cannot resolve the problem.
His final message is even simpler: life is precious, and a small mistake should never place it in danger. That is ultimately what Choudhary’s campaign is seeking to change: the mindset that a wrong-side manoeuvre is simply a shortcut.
In Mumbai, the police now want motorists to understand that those few saved minutes can carry a devastating cost. And this time, there may be much more than a challan waiting at the other end.