JOIN USWhen authorities break rules
Many of us might have seen the police and traffic cops breaking rules on the road like crossing the road while the traffic is on the move or talking on the phone while riding a bike.
And if the same rule was broken by a civilian, he or she would possibly get yelled at
or fined.
Vikram A, an MBA student, was riding his friend’s bike near Hutchins Road in Frazer Town when he was caught for riding without a helmet. But at the same time, he saw a cop riding by without a helmet.
“It is not fair. Some of the traffic officials change the rules according to their wish.
I have seen many officials riding without a helmet. It must be one of the most common offences committed by them. I was asked to pay a fine. I refused to do so until the official was fined too,” he says. Vikram adds that in the end, the cop wasn’t fined and he had to give in and pay.
There are others who have seen cops riding on the wrong side of a one-way street. Naveen Dwarkanath, chief executive officer with a software service company, says that he has seen police officials break the one-way rule a number of times.
“Who does one complain to? Yet another police official?” he asks.
Naveen has also noticed many police officials on the Intermediate Ring Road standing past a signal, ready to catch the citizens who jump it. “It would be much better if they ensured a smooth flow of traffic by standing at the signal rather than standing past it and creating an additional block,” he says.Many people feel that police officials always have their way.
“I get really irritated when they park at a ‘No Parking’ zone and get away with it. I have seen ‘Cheetah’ bikes parked right under the ‘No Parking’ sign,” voices Bhumika, a sales executive. She adds that post 9 pm, one can also see many drunk police officials riding and they never get caught.
B Dayananda, additional commissioner of police(traffic), clarifies that they do not discriminate against offenders, be it a government
official, police official or civilian.
Ask him about the cases registered against these officials, and he says, “It’s hard to distinguish the cases according to people’s designations. After all, we are all citizens of India.”
Dayananda says that in 2013, of the 54,32,812 cases that were registered, there were 4,094 cases of rash driving, 4,21,134 cases of signal jumping, 1,28,370 cases of driving while talking on the phone and 8,21,575 cases of driving without helmet.
“This figure includes cases against officials too. So there have been cases booked against traffic cops and other police officials,” he wraps up.