Yesterday night while we were returning from a party, we saw a remarkable thing. Two cops were kicking and beating up a teenager. He seemed to be from a good family and kept fending them off by saying “Sorry Sir”. He cops kept hitting and kicking and punching him. So what was remarkable about this sight? They were traffic cops!
Since the State government has banned random checking of licenses,(which was rigorously implemented due to the wads of cash it yielded),it has become impossible for these guys to make money. Since only traffic violators can be pulled up, they now milk them for all they are worth. A colleague’s son was caught when he had just cleared a signal before it turned red and accused of being drunk. He was asked to shell out 1K or face a formal fine of 3K. He refused as he was not drunk. When intimidation did not work, they subjected him to an alcohol test and released him after cursing him. Such instances are on the rise now as the men in uniform, find fewer ways to extort money from drivers.
What has State machinery like traffic policing become? A mere tool to extort money! Disturbing isn’t it that most State machineries in this country are devices to extort money from citizens! What do you call this? New age mafia? Democracy be damned. Every State machinery in this State is a money making machine for the politicians. Even the huge sums collected for flood relief, went for Ministerial relief.
The final nail in the coffin was, colleagues advising me not to donate money for flood relief. Give food, clothes but never money they advised. Else it will go to politician’s bank accounts. When I put the packet of clothes in the box provided for flood relief work, I couldn’t help pitying the victims of not only floods, but all of us, who are victims of State sponsored extortion.
And we take it without a whimper!
11 comments:
So frustrating and frightening when you think about the stste of our law enforcement agencies andpersonnel, isn't it? It is a knid of state-sponsored-violation, I agree with you.
Wonder why the youth you mentioned in the first para was beaten up...
*sigh*
Any end to it? I don't foresee.
Did anyone come to the rescue of that youth? Or was he left to the mercy of those policemen?
Last month traffic police caught me twice in same week for silly reasons
1.i was wearing a cap instead of helmet on a heavy rainy day
2.My bike headlight was turned off , when i was waiting for the signal.
I can't stop laughing when i recall those
3K fine???? crazy guys...you know maximum penalty for traffic violations are 1k(that too for serious violations).And it is always good 2 ask for bills instead of bribing them coz actually most of the fines are less than 200(unfortunately most of the people are not having awareness about this)
@ donate money for flood relief ...answer is simple...if they provide proper bill, then give money else don't give
Scorpiogenius: Here, it is really bad with the govt machinery voted the 4th most corrupt in India. The youth was pulled up for some traffic violation I believe!
Karthik:Not exactly what I feel, I am still boiling at the incident!
Partha: Yes, people rushed in and rescued him. Mostly kids his age.
Ashwin: We stopped to intervene, but by then his friends rescued him. Don't know what happened after that. Wish I had a handy cam.
Anish: Now you will get pulled up for even minor transgression due to the dip in collections due to the new laws. And you are right, some people are not aware of the fine rates. Asking for bills for flood relief donations do not help much, sadly!
What you have seen is just a tip of an iceberg.
You remember Sonia Gandhi stood for election in Bellary and BJP tried hard with Sushma Swaraj against her? Why? It was a conventional Congress fort and BJP was a minnow there. But BJP found an easy way of getting the Bellary brothers along with them and they turned it politically around with money and muscle power. But we saw what it cost when the democratic principles were bargained with money a few weeks back in Karnataka Legislature, which is a shame in the largest democracy of the world.
The real issue is that, because of improper mining and related stuff, water and air and land of Bellary is depleting in rapid pace. The livelihoods are degrading.
But no one cares. The policy makers are not interested as they are not affected when they were/are blindly running behind cash.
The same thing is happening elsewhere too.Democracy has a value when people have the right not only to vote, but to control the government. But unfortunately, the latter part is not happening.
Police is just a part of that machinery that falls on your feet to get them elected and stand on your head after they get elected.
And these incidents will continue to happen. And, the solution is only Political.
Another thing I hv noticed with traffic cops in Bangalore is tht first question they ask is do u knw Kannada? and which state I m frm.....
I hv no concrete reason to subustantiate this bt i think they charge extra bribe from non-Kannada speaking crowd (i m just guessing)....
Two times I hv been stopped by cops in past two mnths and I hd to pay Rs.100 to wriggle my way out....
Bt both times I was at fault... still I wonder if things wuld b easier if I knew sum Kannada...
EJ: You are right. Apparently the SC has ordered the govt to make the police into an autonomous body. Wonder if the States will agree to that.
Small talk: That is another ruse to intimidate you to get more cash!
The final nail in the coffin was, colleagues advising me not to donate money for flood relief. Give food, clothes but never money they advised. Else it will go to politician’s bank accounts. When I put the packet of clothes in the box provided for flood relief work, I couldn’t help pitying the victims of not only floods, but all of us, who are victims of State sponsored extortion.
Are you so ignorant? Where do you think the Gujarat Earthquake relief fund and the Tsunami fund went to? The Kerala Gov did something decent. They paid 2 months of salary to gov officials using that amount.
I hear some same cases in my 1.5 Year tour in a stable state capital. When a police man catch a guy who refuse to lift them. The Police man took him in police station and beat hime vary rudly. He oppose the world to be make complaint against this issue. the police man again beat with help of some other police mans and make the charge to use the station wall as urenal.
This is show who has hold the power, position, appotches, are miss use for the sake of personal intrest
Post a Comment