Police have filed two cases against a minister’s vehicle for driving on the wrong side on Circuit House Road on Thursday morning.

A senior official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s traffic division said the vehicle, a Range Rover bearing registration number Dhaka Metro-Gha-18-2125, was stopped by traffic police at around 9:08am while it was heading towards the Secretariat on the wrong side of the road.

The driver, Arif Hossain, was sued for reckless driving, the official said.

Police imposed fines of Tk 3,000 for each of the two offences, totalling Tk 6,000, he said.

The vehicle was identified as belonging to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and Minister Rashiduzzaman Millat was inside the vehicle when it was stopped, officials said.

Traffic officials described the case as unprecedented, saying they could not recall any previous instance in Bangladesh where a case was filed against a minister’s vehicle for driving on the wrong side of the road.

There have been previous reports of vehicles carrying ministers driving against traffic to avoid congestion or reach destinations quickly, but such incidents had not resulted in cases, the officials said.

The incident sparked discussion at the Secretariat, with senior police officials saying the action demonstrated that traffic rules should apply equally to all, regardless of the status of passengers in a vehicle.

A senior police official said the Prime Minister’s motorcade was following traffic rules and obeying signals while travelling through congested roads.

The official said the case against the minister’s vehicle should serve as a message for senior government officials to comply with traffic laws.