Imagine this – you are driving on your bike on a road in Bengaluru. You know you are not wearing a helmet, so you try to avoid the traffic police. They catch you, but instead of handing you a challan, you are greeted by a living, breathing Yamaraja who gives you flowers and a gentle warning about your traffic violation.

Sounds bizarre? Well, that’s exactly what the Halasuru Gate traffic police did on Tuesday to drive home the message of road safety. Traffic offenders like those riding two-wheelers without a helmet and those driving on the wrong side were stopped by an actor dressed as Yamaraja, the god of death.

Mohammad Khader Ullah from the Halasuru Gate Police Station told TNM that this was part of Road Safety month activities. “We hired an actor from Gangavathi. We wanted to tell the offenders if they don’t follow traffic rules, then the real Yamaraja will come and take them away from this world,” he says.

When the commuters were stopped, much to their surprise, they were not even fined. They were given saplings and flowers and encouraged not to repeat this. The bewildered and amused commuters even took selfies with the actor playing Yamaraj.

“They were quite pleasantly surprised. In fact, when they saw what we were trying to do with the Yamaraja character, they readily accepted that they were not following the rules and promised that they would not repeat this again,” Mohammad shares.

He adds that they will also be conducting awareness drives in all the schools in their jurisdiction, this month. The police officer said, “We will be speaking to the children, showing them videos about road safety, taking precautions against accidents and follow traffic rules meant to keep them safe.”