- मैंने रिश्वत दी
- 11 years ago
- 483 दर्शनों की संख्या
Me and a friend on mine rode on our bicycles to a beach in the city…
- Police
- Police Harassment
- Paid INR 100
Me and a friend on mine rode on our bicycles to a beach in the city (Juhu beach, Mumbai) reached at around 11.30pm. Entering from the main entrance, we decided to stroll a bit on the beach and take one of the multiple exits from the beach. Of course we had our bicycles, but we were not riding them on the beach. By the time we reached the other entrance/exit (after the ISKCON Temple) to move out, there was a check post with police van standing there. They told us to come to the chowki and started harassing us that it was beyond the beach opening time and that we were not supposed to be there, especially with our bikes. They threatened us that now they'll fine us and confiscate our bikes which we'll have to collect them from court, spend the night in jail and pay fine. We knew that all he wanted was to get some money. Hence, we maintained our cool and just stood there, without speaking much, sometimes respectfully explaining that we did not notice any sign or anything that said not to be on the beach (since there were other people on the side of the beach that we entered). He said that the other side is in Vile Parle and this side was in Juhu and they don't know about Vile Parle side of the beach. He was not letting us go in any case. He also made a couple of - I'm assuming- fake calls calling the "Van" to come, pick us. Meanwhile a couple (apparently husband and wife) also happened to pass the area and they too were confronted by the policemen. However, they were let off, I'm guessing because there was a girl and the policemen did not want to risk harassing a girl. However, we being guys, they could harass.
Then we asked okay, how much is the fine. He said 1250 ppax. We were quite certain that the fine cannot be so much for such a petty thing, even if we were violating the law. Of course we didn't have the cash, and it was quite late, so we didn't want our family to do the honors for us. Plus, if we had done so, we would surely have not been allowed again to go out cycling in the night.
So finally (I hated this part), we had to ask him "Sir, batao kya kar sakte hain, kitna lagega" and showed him 100 bucks. He finally settled for 200.
I have some doubts.
1) Is there really so much fine for trespassing a public place? (Is the beach even a government property?)
2) How do you really get such information? Whether you are violating any law (which is not obvious)? I could not find it even online anywhere.
3) What do you do in such a situation? When the police is harassing you, and you even don't know whether what you are doing is wrong and what is the penalty/liability for the same?
4) Can the police arrest you at that hour of the night? Without any arrest warrant or anything?