Rocking in the Free World

Warning: Post is slightly lengthy, as it is quite descriptive of a particular incident that took place over the weekend, and required some additional details to be given.

On saturday night, after an evening at the office where I had some non-office work to be done, I met up with PGK at Koramangala to have dinner and generally chill out.

Despite alcohol featuring in the agenda during the meeting, I had very little, considering I had to ride back home. Drunken riding and being caught by cops for drunken riding are two things that offend my sensibilities substantially. It is my intention to never pay a fine to a cop to as best an extent as possible. But between paying a fine and paying a bribe, I will most definitely do the former.

Consequently, despite my other two friends for the evening having been buzzed lightly, I was almost as sober as a judge, but enjoying myself nevertheless. The drink was followed up with dinner at ‘Rendezvous‘ in Koramangala, and some coffee thereafter at the Barista right next door, in order to wake me up further.

This Barista is supposed to close by about 2300, but they down all shutters and keep their front door open till about 0000 in case there’s people like us who want to have some coffee before calling it a night. In order to stay open till late, the staff pays the cops a nominal bribe (INR 100), and the guaranteed returns on this investment ensure that they are in business after closing hours. Heck, the three of us ran up a bill of INR 200 and there were two other tables that were occupied as well.

Right outside the Barista is a traffic signal, and cops set up barricades after 2200 for security reasons. This usually means that they end up stopping most oncoming traffic and check vehicles for documents. Having just renewed insurance recently, and in possession of a valid driver’s license and registration, I was not too bothered about the check.

As was expected, on exiting the Barista on my way home, I was intercepted by the cops with PGK on the pillion. The cops asked for documents for the vehicle, and I fished all of it out, with a semi-smug feeling, knowing that I’d be allowed to leave immediately. I was not in possession of an emission test certificate, but that didn’t bother me too much because I assumed that I was in the clear by virtue of being in possession of the other necessary documents.

Much to my surprise, the police constable asked me for the emission test certificate, and when I told him that I did not have it on me, he asked me to park the vehicle on the side and collect it the next morning. I informed him that I was ready to pay a fine if I would be given a receipt in return, but he said that he was not authorized to give out fines.

I had a good mind to ask him what gave him the authority to confiscate a vehicle without having any other powers, but I kept quiet, simply because I didn’t want to risk getting into any confrontation with them. I instead told him that I was perfectly ok waiting with the bike till the morning, paying the fine at the station and then heading home.

I was distinctly polite and courteous without being subservient, while some other people who were stopped by the cops weren’t as nice to them. Two guys on a bike, a couple of HTs were stopped by the cops, and they were in the same predicament as I, without an emission test certificate to show. However, while talking amongst each other, they mentioned in passing that the cop wanted a bribe. This infuriated the constable no end, as he started threatening the HTs with dire consequences.

As I waited patiently, more vehicles were stopped in turn, and the constables were having a field day. However, I did not see them ask anyone for a bribe in my presence. The HT got into an arguement with the cop, and PGK and I could see how they were significantly agitated by the cop’s behaviour. One of them whipped out his phone to ‘make a few calls’ and gave his name as Avinash Agarwal, and the cop noted it down duly.

After being made to wait for about twenty minutes along the side of the road, presumably because we were not ready to pay a bribe, the cop asked us to go. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I was a member of the press. This seemed to cause him some discomfort, and his tone was that of politeness when he told me to get the emission certificate done at the earliest.

Assuring him that I would do my best not to be troubled by his buddies, I then bade him farewell and was homeward bound. It is quite evident that he was fishing for a bribe, as Amit_123 (which according to PGK is a standard reference to a HT name) seemed to have paid the cop something to be let off.

Now, this is not the first time I have been stopped by cops during my late night sojourns, but I have always answered their questions to the point, produced the required documents and then gone home, but the inconvenience it causes is quite painful.

After having found out, through an RTI document about how constables are not authorized to stop vehicles unless accompanied by officers, I shall now do my best to get these errant cops to face the consequences.

Should that aim not be achieved, I’d like it if other people became aware, through this incident and the linked RTI document, about who can be stopped by a cop and what documents need to be supplied.

As a free citizen of India, I have the right to go anywhere that the general public has access to, and that includes riding on the roads of Bangalore city late in the evening on a vehicle with proper documents, and God help those that want to stop me from doing so.