Traffic Cops In This City Just Busted 17,000 Cars For Tinted Windows!

Modification of any sort is considered illegal in India. We have seen state police departments conduct drives to check whether vehicle owners are following the rules and are not making any illegal changes or modifications to the vehicle. One of the most common kinds of modifications on the road is tinted windows. Pune Police this year alone penalised nearly 17,000 vehicles on the road.

As per the official data, between 1 January and 1 January 2025, Pune Traffic Police has penalised 16,975 vehicles. All these vehicles were fined for using illegal black or dark tints on the windows and windshield. In the last 11 months, the Pune City Traffic Police Department has collected ₹1,82,59,000 in fines.

As per the officials, many young car owners, especially those who have SUVs like the Thar, install tinted glass as part of modification and to enhance the look of the car. The officials have issued warnings against such modifications on several occasions, but the owners continue to do it.

Manoj Patil, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said, “Digital complaints have played a major role in identifying violators, especially through the Pune Traffic Police (PTP) Traffic Cop App issued by the traffic department. The police received 3,522 complaints on the app, of which 2,595 challans were issued between June 13 and December 7, 2025. Citizen reporting has helped in detecting various violations in areas where on-ground monitoring is difficult. Accordingly, this time, more cases have been registered. To curb the violation of traffic norms, public cooperation is required. As the record of the PTP app displays, there has been a good response of public coordination in the last six months. Additionally, people should follow the traffic norms.”

This is not the first time we have come across a report like this. However, this is probably the first time we have seen such a huge number in terms of violations and collections for illegal modifications.

As per the Supreme Court ruling from 2012, sunfilms on cars are completely banned on private and commercial vehicles. When delivering this judgment, the Supreme Court stated that crimes against women, kidnapping, and assault were increasingly being carried out in cars with black window films or sunfilms. This was one of the major reasons for the ban.

However, many state police and transport departments are now allowing car owners to make modifications that are within the limits of the rule. In Kerala, if a motor vehicle’s windscreen or windows are equipped with toughened or laminated glass and it complies with Indian Standards and the permissible VLT (visible light transmission), it qualifies as ‘glazing faced with plastics’ under the definition of ‘glazing’ in Indian Standard IS 2553 (Part 2) (First Revision): 2019 and Global Technical Regulation.

As per the standards, the films on the front and rear windscreens must have 70 percent visibility, while the side glasses should let 50 percent of the light in. This way, the driver and the occupants will save themselves from the bright sun while on the road.

However, in most cases, these car owners go for dark tints on the windows, which completely block the light and vision. Driving cars with such tints can actually cause difficulties while driving at night.