In Chennai, Tamil Nadu, women are faced with the strange rules of RTO for getting driving license. This rule is the dress code, which is not present anywhere in the motor vehicle act in writing, yet it has been made mandatory for women.
According to their rules before the driving test, RTO officials decide what kind of clothes the woman who came to take the test is wearing. Whether she is wearing a salwar-suit or not. If he feels that according to him the clothes of the woman are right, then he only allows the driving test or else the woman is sent back.
The RTO inspectors in Chennai are operating on their own terms, separate from the law.
According to the Swarnim Times report, a woman working in the IT sector arrived at the RTO office in KK Nagar when she was stopped from taking a driving test simply because she did not find the woman’s dress appropriate.
The woman said, I was wearing jeans and a sleeveless top. The inspector who took the driving test objected to it. He flatly refused to allow a driving test in these clothes. The woman was in dire need of a license, so she went back to her home and came back wearing a salwar-suit.
Earlier another woman arrived for driving test wearing capri and shirt which was sent back from RTO. She was told to go home and put on decent clothes. The woman went home and came back wearing a salwar-suit. Only after that the woman was allowed a driving test.
The people who gave the driving test told that this dress code is not being imposed here only on women. Rather, the men who come to give a test wearing lungi or short are also returned. They are not allowed to appear in the driving test until they come wearing proper dress.