‘Route thalas’ buy peace, to be under police watch

The action comes after Pachaiyappa’s college students attacked fellow a student with machetes after dragging him out of an MTC bus on Poonamallee High Road over ‘route thala’ rivalry on Tuesday.

The city police have been executing peace bonds with thousands of probable offenders and history-sheeters under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 107, 109 and 110, in which they promise not to indulge in any anti-social activities. “The offenders execute peace bonds promising to behave for a year and if they break it, they will have to be in jail for the rest of the period,” said a senior police officer.

The police use their executive magistrate power to force the offenders to sign the bond. They claimed that their action was a step to eradicate the menace of students’ violence under label ‘route thala’ on public transport.

In Madhavaram police district, 29 ‘route thalas’ were summoned to the Deputy Commissioner office along with their parents and made to sign the bond under 107 Cr PC not to repeat such incidents in the future.

All of them will be under watch of a sub-inspector constantly. Parents were also asked to monitor their sons’ activities frequently. According to the police, the parents were happy about the initiative and appreciated it.

The parents were also told that stringent action will be taken if their wards were found causing trouble again, a police officer said. Similarly, college students were summoned in Pulianthope, Anna Nagar and Washermenpet taking the total of students who signed peace bonds to 58.