No ‘bhaigiri’ or ‘ruffiangiri’: Daman Collector lines up owners of Thars and Fortuners, makes them take road safety oath

The Daman district administration has made the owners of Mahindra Thar and Toyota Fortuner SUVs take a vow to drive their vehicles safely. During a road safety campaign organised in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on Wednesday (September 9) evening, the District Collector of Daman, Saurabh Mishra, said the Thar was not a vehicle for “bhaigiri” or “ruffiangiri” (don or ruffianly behaviour).

“Thar means responsibility”, and Thar owners should be citizens who extend help to women on the road and to victims of road accidents, he said. Both the Thar and the Fortuner are large, muscular vehicles, and the Thar, especially, has come to be associated in popular perception with fatal road accidents and reckless driving around the country.

Mishra urged Thar owners to post this message on social media, and tag the chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra. “The reason behind doing such an activity is that the Thar company owner should carry out a campaign nationwide about his car,” Mishra told the gathering.

— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) September 10, 2026 Late on Wednesday night, the Department of Information and Publicity of the UT administration posted a video of “Thar and Fortuner owners” taking the “Road Safety Pledge” on X, and tagged Mahindra.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Thars and Fortuners were parked in neat rows in an open field in Daman, and their owners were made to stand in lines in front of the vehicles. Collector Mishra and several police officers assembled on a small stage and addressed them.

The owners and drivers were made to walk around the field and circle the vehicles, holding placards with road safety slogans printed on them. They were then recorded taking a safety oath in Hindi. The oath said: “I pledge to not over-speed or drive my vehicle negligently.

I will not do stunts, racing, or drifting on the roads with my vehicle, and I will not allow others to do so either. I will not drive my vehicle while I am inebriated.” The owners and drivers also pledged not to make unauthorised modifications to their vehicles such as adding silencers or lights, changing their wheels, or putting black plastic film on the windows.

“I will avoid unnecessary honking and I will follow rules and regulations,” they pledged. There is growing conversation around the country linking the Thar with an alleged culture of rash and dangerous driving without concern for lives or safety.

Social media is full of reels showing speeding, swerving, and drifting Thars, intended apparently to project an image of dashing invincibility for the drivers and owners of the vehicle. In November 2025, Haryana’s then director general of police O P Singh said in Gurugram: “The choice of car shows the mindset of a person.

The Thar is not a car, it’s a statement which says this is how I am.” To be sure, there is no major Indian study linking the Thar or any other SUV with the incidence of rash driving or accidents. The National Crime Records Bureau does not list vehicle type in its accident data.

In his speech, Collector Mishra told the vehicle owners: “I appeal to you to tag Anand Mahindra ji through social media so that he himself or his office people know about the drive that we are carrying out here. He (Mahindra) should also be motivated by our work and do a campaign for Thar… A woman walking on the pavement should actually feel safe if she sees a Thar pass by.

If an accident occurs, a passing Thar or Fortuner will take the injured to hospital. Through such a campaign, the association of the Thar with bhaigiri or mafiagiri can be stopped.” Reached for a comment on the Collector’s event and the appeal to Mahindra about the vehicle and its purported image, a spokesperson for the Mahindra Group said she would check.

She had not reverted by press time. After the event, Daman Deputy Collector Priyanshu Singh said: “All Thar and Fortuner vehicles registered with Daman RTO were invited to the Sankalp Yatra organised by the Daman district administration.

People were asked to remove unauthorised items such as tints on windshields or windows, modified tyres, or changed sound systems. The message was sent that strict legal action would be taken against everyone doing bhaigiri and mafiagiri.

It is our appeal to the people of Daman: drive safely and ensure that others on the road do not get injured.” Praful Patel, Administrator of the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep, expressed his support for the road safety drive.