#smokingchallan
A few days ago a police man walked upto me while I was smoking a cigarette in front of a chai Sutta shop which had other patrons (smoking as well). The police man asked me for my details and said I owed a fine in Cash and no online payment is allowed. Me being a honourable citizen asked for the challan for the offence (was willing to pay the fine 200-1000 don’t really care that much about the amount). This cop gave this notice which mentioned that I have to appear infront of a court (no date specified) and I was obligated to pay the fine under section 92 of KP Act, wherein there’s no mention of Smoking as an offence. He told me I can either pay the fine right then and there or I can go to the police station to pay the fine and collect the challan receipt. I asked him for his identification and all he had to show for it was his badge with his name mentioned. I told him I will pay the fine at the station and we went our separate ways.
I am actually confused, did I just dodged a scam? Or do I owe this city a fine, under the wrong legal section? Or am I just naive and I should walk upto the police and inform that I need to pay a fine without any fine/challan no.
I realized that it is a dicey situation when I saw that the cop only had a receipt book without actual receipt numbers or a carbon copy paper underneath the book( he did click a picture of the receipt , but I gave him all the wrong details) redacting it from here because the cop has a digital copy.