Chapter XIII — Offences, Penalties And Procedure
Section 198 — Unauthorised interference with vehicle
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988)
Text of the section
Unauthorised interference with vehicle.—Whoever otherwise than with lawful authority or reasonable execuse enters or mounts any stationary motor vehicle or tampers with the brake or any part of the mechanism of a motor vehicle shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.
Reproduced from the India Code text of the Act. Bracketed superscript numerals are the official footnote markers for earlier amendments.
Amended by the 2019 Amendment Act
In section 198 of the principal Act, for the words “with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees”, the words “with fine of one thousand rupees” shall be substituted. 84.
This is the amending instruction from the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 32 of 2019), quoted verbatim. Read it together with the text above — the consolidated version is the section as it reads once these changes are applied.
Before you rely on this. The base text above is the Act as consolidated by the India Code, which predates the 2019 amendment; any 2019 change is shown separately rather than merged in. Later amendments may also apply. For anything official, read the current text on the e-Gazette or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways site.
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