Pls. let me know the law if a minor (Below age 14 years) drives 2 wheeler or motor car. Can he be penalised with fine or imprisonment or both and/or his/her parents too? Somebody said that if a minor drive a vehicle, a FIR will be lodged against his/her parents.

If he/she will hit/damage to a person/vehicle, who will responsible (he/she or their parents)?

Pls. clarify.

Thanks in advance.

I am of the view that the father will only be held civilly for the criminal acts of his son. Such liability arise not upon the father's ownership but upon the combined ngligence of the father and the son, as the father fails in his duty which every good citizen owes to the public. FIR can not be filed against the father but it has to be filed against the son for punishment under section 180 of the Act.

 joint reading of ss.4,5,180,181 and 182 - minor is guilty and father also can be prosecuted   if he had permitted.

age limit u/s 4 : two wheeler up to 50cc engine - above 16 yrs; more than 50cc - above 18 yrs. Transport vehicle- above 20 yrs.

Dear All,

I agree with your Replies but what to do with this Kid??

Driving is child's play for this seven-year-old kid !!!!!

IN CONTROL: M. Santosh Kumar driving a van.

ERODE: When children of his age play with toy cars, M. Santosh Kumar, aged 7, is happy sitting behind the wheels of lorry, van and `bullet'.

He steers them all with equal ease, and driving him is his love for automobiles. His first tryst with the accelerator began about five years ago, recalls his mother Nirmala. "As a child he always wanted to either sit or stand in the front to control the handlebar. First it began with the moped his father had. Whenever his father, P. Murugesh, started the moped, Santosh would insist that he handle the vehicle." From steering the vehicle in his father's presence, he shifted to the second gear by riding the vehicle alone. His father was, of course, there but only to help the boy start and stop the vehicle. The next gear was a quantum shift, though, in that the Class Two boy drove a van. "It started in the same way as the moped, with his father's guidance. After a while, he stood between the steering wheel and the driver's seat to drive the vehicle," says Ms. Nirmala. Today, having grown up a bit, he sits on the edge of the seat to steer the vehicle. Metal road or mud road, or even undulating, marshy terrains do not matter.

The only problem he has is that he cannot reverse the vehicle, for the seats block his vision. He subsequently set his eyes on his father's `bullet'. His mother says he reverted to two-wheeler and rode it with commendable dexterity. The only caveat was that his father had to handover the vehicle switched on and in first gear.

As mileage clock rotated by, Santosh grew to be a pro in riding a bullet. "Within days of riding a bullet with his father's help, he rode home the bullet alone. Since then he rides the vehicle alone," says the mother proudly.

Santosh says he wants to be a racer. "When I grow up, I want to ride like those men who vroom behind sleek-looking machines." This drive of his is not only on roads but also inside classroom. His class teacher and headmistress say the boy is brilliant in class, active in participation and full of energy. He is a student of the Nandhi Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Karungalpalayam.

NewsLink:http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/05/stories/2006110501380300.htm

Sec 4. Age limit in connection with driving of motor vehicles.

(1) No person under the age of eighteen years shall drive a motor vehicle in any public place:

Provided that ¹[a motor cycle with engine capacity not exceeding 50cc] may be driven in a public place by a person after attaining the age of sixteen years.

(2) Subject to the provisions of section 18, no person under the age of twenty years shall drive a transport vehicle in any public place.

(3) No learner's licence or driving licence shall be issued to any person to drive a vehicle of the class to which he has made an application unless he is eligible to drive that class of vehicle under this section.

Sec 5 . Responsibility of owners of motor vehicles for contravention of sections 3 and 4.

No owner or person in charge of a motor vehicle shall cause or permit any person who does not satisfy the provisions of section 3 or section 4 to drive the vehicle

S. 180. Allowing unauthorised persons to drive vehicles.

Whoever, being the owner or person in charge of a motor vehicle, causes or permits, any other person who does not satisfy the provisions of section 3 or section 4 to drive the vehicle shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.,

S. 181. Driving vehicles in contravention of section 3 or section 4.
Whoever drives a motor vehicle in contravention of section 3 or section 4 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.

Thanks to all.

We should enhance awareness into our society to stop these things for sake of ours.