Some interactions with the cops..

Some time back I had written about my brush with the cops after the motorbike accident. The following are a few interesting interactions with cops I have had in the past few years.

One day whilst returning from my uncle’s farm, I had just crossed Sion railway station and I was in two minds whether to go straight and take the highway to office or take a right turn at the signal and go via Kurla. I was in the lane for turning right, I saw a couple of traffic cops and instinctively took the right instead of going straight. The traffic cop nevertheless flagged me down and asked for my license. I asked him in Marathi what offence I had committed as the signal for going right was on. He told me that I planned to go straight but turned right (the guy was smart – he probably read my thoughts!) that’s why he wanted my license. I asked him, was I wrong in turning right, he replied no – I asked did I jump the signal, he replied no, I asked him did I commit any other offence – he replied no but I intended to. I looked at him with a very straight face and told him that at this moment I am thinking of killing you, but I don’t – so thinking or intending to do something and later not doing it is no crime. I admit, I was thinking of going straight – but I DID NOT – that’s not a crime. My friends in the car were looking at me open mouthed at what I was saying to a cop. But the entire conversation was very polite, and as I had not done any wrong, I did not show him my license, and the cop seeing that I was actually legally right, smiled and told me to carry on.

About four years back my wife was flying down from Delhi sometime in November. The flight was to land at 9.30pm and at that time of the year there is air traffic congestion and the flight always lands an hour or so later. I had asked a couple of friends to give me company while we waited for the flight. We had reached by around 9.30pm and decided to have dinner at the restaurant (now shifted). I parked the car on the road adjoining the restaurant as there were a lot of autos parked anyway. We had just given the order for our dinner, when a waiter came and asked me whether the car parked was mine. I replied in the affirmative and he told me that a traffic cop was calling the owner. One of my friends and I then went to see what the problem was. The cop told me there was no parking, please remove the car. By the way, we had downed a couple of drinks prior to sitting for dinner, so there was a bit of bravado also involved in the interaction. I looked at him in real surprise and asked whether it was no parking only for cars and not for autos. He said it is no parking for everybody, to which I then asked what about these 100 odd autos parked in a line adjoining the footpath. He did not have an answer, a couple of auto drivers came to poke their nose and see what was happening. I asked the cop very loudly whether these guys were paying him “hafta”, I asked the auto drivers also the same question. There was total confusion on their faces. My friend was totally enjoying himself by now. I took out my phone, went close to the cop, looked at his name badge, pretended to type it on the notepad, took his belt number and told him that I was a reporter with Mid-day, took some snaps of the cop and the autos in the no parking zone and told them that tomorrow I will see that this is published in the newspapers. The approach of the cop completely changed from aggressive to submissive pleading for help in removing the auto menace. He said that if this is really published it will be a big help to him in doing his job. I removed my car from the road and parked it in the lane. The cop by then had become really friendly and was telling me not to write to his superiors but I should definitely publish the photos in the newspapers….he actually posed for me near the autos and I did take his snap. It’s another thing that it never got published!

Once while going on my scooter at Matunga (below the flyover the road is one way), a cop van was coming from the no entry side. As I was in the right I kept going straight and did not move from the vans path. The van hooted and I stopped right in the middle (two cars can barely pass each other in that lane) and the van also stopped. The driver took his head out and asked me to move, I told him to go back as he had entered a one way street from the wrong end. He started threatening me with dire consequences – I took his photo on the cell and told him if he did not go back, I will make a few phone calls. Cops are also human you see, it’s just that they get a misplaced sense of power because of their uniform and feel that they can get away with anything. I asked him whether there was a police emergency that he took the no entry road. He said no, I said great, please go back. There were other cops in the van and a sub-inspector was also there. I told him that they being cops should be setting an example in upholding the law and not breaking it. The poor guy told the driver to reverse the van and take it back. The van actually went back – I did not expect that, in fact I was planning to let the van pass. Just goes to show that if you reason with the cops they too see the light of day and do what is right.

Another incident occurred at the Mahim Church signal at around 6 in the evening. I was driving in the second lane at around 30 kmph, as pedestrians cross the road in spite of the heavy traffic even when the pedestrian signal is red. This, in spite of there always being about 8 to 10 cops manning the signal (the police post is also just opposite the church). I saw a pregnant Muslim lady in purdah hurrying across the road with one baby in her arm and holding a 5-6 year old kid by the other hand. I slowed down further as she came in front of my car, a Maruti Esteem was overtaking me from the right and was blind sided as far as the lady crossing the road was concerned. The moment he saw the group he braked hard and just about stopped – the 5 year old had run across, but the car just touched the mother as the car stopped – the baby was thrown out of the mothers arm, but nothing much happened as it landed on a pedestrians foot (God actually protects kids), the mother had fallen down and was being helped up. I had in the meanwhile stopped the car to help out. A two striped cop asked the driver of the Esteem (an elderly sardarji) for his license and told him to park the car at the side of the road. This was too much….I asked the cop where the sardarji was at fault? He said it was an accident and the car driver has to be careful. I told him, I saw exactly what had happened, and if the cops did their job by restraining the pedestrians from crossing at a signal which has heavy traffic, the accident would never have happened. An officer then came and told me to proceed as it was a small matter and they would just check if there were any injuries for insurance purposes and let the driver go. The best part of interacting with the cops is you should know the language (Marathi) and speak with them politely with confidence and authority and it always gives positive results.