- Bribe Fighter
- 10 years ago
- 4049 views
It was 1.20am on a Saturday morning when I lay fast asleep post…
It was 1.20am on a Saturday morning when I lay fast asleep post a tiring day at work until my cell phone buzzed in the middle of the night. Startled as I got with the phone ringing at that oddly hour, I woke up with a jolt only to hear a female colleague of mine breathing heavily on the call, finally managing to state that her car had met with an accident near Kanjurmarg Station & she needed help. Fondly humored to be a person notorious enough to enjoy dealing or rather fighting my way through with cops & road rage cases, I was the first person she could call on, for help & that was when the moment of trusth began…..yet another nightmare of an experience with MA.PO.SE – Maharashtra Police Seva – & their so called claim of helping the aam janta; or even better the most recent one of priority service for women, kids & senior citizens.
The story goes like this….my friend was going to Kanjurmarg to drop her relatives at the station. Near Huma Theatre, as she turned right towards the station, a Maruti Eeco, assuming that it will pass through, continued to drive on the straight lane without reducing its speed & as a result collided straight into her car, also dashing another rickshaw parked at the corner. By the time I reached the place, suddenly the otherwise quiet street became an accident spot within a fraction of seconds.
The towing van had already reached the spot as the car wasn’t in moving condition. They parked the car at the corner of the road & started asking the usual basic questions – who was driving the car; how did the accident happen; on whose name is the car registered; do you have the papers & the license etc. To add some more flavor to that night, my friend realized that there was a problem in the car’s number plate. The vehicle had just come back from service a day prior & the number plate vendor erroneously interchanged the placing of 2 digits of the number. So 8597 became 5897 and there began an endless saga with the ever helpful & cooperative Mumbai Police.
To begin with, we were asked to lodge a report at the Parksite Police Station. By the time we reached there, the opposite party had already reached & shared his side of the story & Inspector Shinde – officer on duty – wouldn’t even hear our case before accusing us guilty of the accident; until I had to raise my voice & imply that he hear both the parties & then give his views.
While examining, he figured out the issue with the number plate & accused my friend of illegal practices. To clarify the matter, my friend called for all the car purchase documents from her residence in Versova. Meanwhile, we suggested that the cops check the chassis number of the car thereby confirming that the vehicle in picture is the same as that advocated by the papers. We even shared the contact number & details of the car service workshop that made the number plate for proof & validation but Inspector Shinde just wouldn’t budge.
After dilly dallying the matter till 3.30am, he finally announced that his Senior – Inspector Naik – who had then gone out for his rounds & was to return in half an hour – would have to look into this matter & only he can take a call on the way forward. This half an hour ended at 7.30am – 4 hours later – & till then they held up my friend – a lady citizen – without a single lady constable being anywhere around; her 60 year old father – a senior citizen; her brother; another friend & myself; while Shinde went in his cushy chambers to take a peaceful nap.
On his return, Inspector Naik heard our case & asked us to come the next day. Shinde took over again & assured us that the issue would get sorted within 5 minutes the next day. All they needed was a signature from the Sr. Inspector which he would obtain & keep ready by the time we came back next day – 8pm being the time agreed. Untill then, the car would lie in police custody.
Next day, we reached sharp @ 8pm. There was no sign of Inspector Naik anywhere around & Inspector Shinde said the case had now gone to the Sr. Inspector – Inspector Sapkal. We requested a meeting with him, which was blatantly turned down by Shinde, assuring that he would present advocate our case before Insp. Sapkal & do the needful. After making us wait for another hour, he came back saying Insp Sapkal needed some documents which he had never mentioned earlier & without those, we cannot meet take this any further. When I insisted, he took us to Naik again & there began a rapid fire with my friend:
- When did the accident happen?
- How did it happen?
- Whose fault was it?
- How many people were there in the car?
- Where do you stay?
- What were you doing at Kanjurmarg at that late hour?
- Where do you work?
- What is your designation?
- What does your father do?
- When did you buy the car?
- What was the purpose of buying the car?
- At what price did you buy the car?
- Is it petrol or CNG?
- You travel to Churchgate everyday; what average does your car give?
- Petrol expenses are paid by your company or you pay on your own?
- How much is your monthly income?
At the end of this rapid fire, he asked us to come again the next day with a series of documents which included:
- Original RC of the vehicle
- Pan card
- Aadhar Card
- Election ID
- Ration Card
- MTNL bill
- Electricity Bill
- Residence purchase agreement
- Car Purchase documents
- Workplace ID Card
- Last Salary Slip
This day ended at 1am again after a 5-hour drill.
The next day my friend had to go out of town for a week-long training from work. I was to go & submit the documents on her behalf but I fell gravely sick & so couldn’t go either. When we called Inspector Naik after a week requesting for a meeting, a Police Inspector – on duty – says to a victimized citizen –
“DO NOT CALL & DISTURB ME ON A SUNDAY. CALL ME TOMORROW & I WILL THINK OVER WHAT IS TO BE DONE.”
Monday didn’t fetch us any different a response & frustrated with this episode going on for over a week now, we decided to go & directly meet Inspector Sapkal.
To our good fortune neither Inspector Shinde nor Naik were available when we reached & so the remaining police staff – who had now got accustomed to seeing us sit like helpless buffoons at their mercy every alternate day – allowed us to meet Inspector Sapkal who for the 1st time in over 10 days read out the police recording on the incident & to our extreme shock, he revealed that an official complaint was lodged against us by the opposite party, recorded by Inspector Shinde – which neither of the sub-inspectors ever mentioned to us. He promised to give us a copy of the complaint; infact also tried looking out for our documents but as they remained in Naik’s custody, it required us to come back one more time.
This time again, Naik was out on round. Inspector Sapkal called Naik & asked him to come & close the matter immediately. Our eternal wait continued till Naik returned & he then sat down to scrutinize each document provided by us, validating them against the originals as if my friend was caught in a terrorist case. Sadly for him, unable to find any further loopholes in the matter, he was forced to return back our documents but threw another fit for giving us a copy of the TAD report required for insurance purposes.
The red taping & passing of the buck started again between Shinde & Naik, each saying that the report would be given by the other. When we gathered both of them on the same platform, we were enlightened on a newly carved process by Inspector Naik that attaining a copy of the TAD report required a duly signed application to be submitted by the complainant – an absolutely unheard of rule which was nothing but yet another roadblock that he planted our way. When we submitted the application, he continued the refusal to give the report under the pretext that it was quite late in the night (11pm to be precise) & we wouldn’t find a photocopier anywhere in the vicinity to bring him a copy (also revealing that it is the duty of the complainant to go out, hunt for a photocopier, take a photocopy, pay for it & then take back a copy).
This went on for another half an hour. Losing our patience, we went again forced to go & knock the door of Inspector Sapkal for help & the moment this was done, an adrenaline rush got infused in both the sub inspectors & suddenly they became extra forthcoming in offering all the help needed. The report was finally given to us – after 11 days of the occurrence of the incident; 4 physical visits to the Parksite Police Station & over 17 hours spent waiting for a verdict.
Had it not been for Sr. Inspector Sapkal & his kind intervention, my friend & I would have still continued to make rounds at the Parksite Police Station – courtesy their able officers committed to turn every police encounter into an unpleasant experience, when the irony remains their claim to service every complainant as their top most priority!!