[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

If that were the case, fines should be the norm, as they are in civilized countries. Beatings are also justified in case it is a repeat offense. But do you have any statistics or articles to back up your claim? Or is that an opinion based on social media facts?
In this case, a person died. In other instances, some delivery people were badly hurt.....[/url]

Sorry mate. We are not a civilised country so fines should not be the norm. If fines were imposed, a separate section of people will start saying 'People are already reeling from economic shutdown and the police are imposing fines. They are barbarians'. What I am trying to say is, whatever the solution the authorities come up, we will always have some issues with it. It is easier to be keyboard warriors than getting into the ground and taking action. I myself am guilty of this.

And regarding statistics, maybe you can see the same news channel where you picked the video from. I am sure you will see visuals of people walking around as if nothing is wrong.

[Arjun Bharadwaj]

With clearly no sign of bottoming out of cases in the more developed countries, the best we can do is request/beg/force people into social distancing.

If the situation cannot be reasonably controlled, we should brace for an apocalypse in our nation with crumbling infrastructure, shortage of basic necessities and having to fend ourselves with whatever supplies of Paracetamol that is available.

Slightly OT - would be curious to know if someone has a house garden? for 2 reasons:

-Reduced dependency on going outside
-A good hobby to develop during this time

Completely self sustainable solutions might become the need of the hour?

[V.Narayan]

My mother is admitted at a local hospital. I need to travel up & down once or twice a day. I carry some hospital papers along. The cops look at it, look at my grey head and flag me on. No mara-mari. I have explained to them that they'll see me several times. Our local grocery store is receiving supplies after hiccups the first day. At least in my corner of earth the Gurgaon police are handling things sensibly. I hope I haven't spoken too soon.

I think we are headed into an economic storm - a world wide slow down; a weak growth already in India which will now fall to nil; US-China trade war could get worse; our tax collections each month are tanking.....Looks like a 1991 scenario once again.

[GladRagu]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

I think in this situation, the number of civilians flouting the rules (going for joyrides, meeting friends, girlfriends) are far more than instances of police brutality. I request forum members to please think twice before blaming the policeman on the road. As someone mentioned above, they have a thankless job.

Its not as if the general public are saints. Many people get a sadistic . Such anti social elements

So before we start bashing the police, it is better we look at how the civilian brethren behave.

Can you support your claim of civilians flouting rules? Meeting friends, girlfriends- where do you get these informations! You've high regards for Indian police but I've seen enough in person and in social media. The atrocity done by them are barbaric in the name of keeping the order. Situations like this are the platform for them to vent out their anger and show their real face. Would they hit had they come across a friend or relative of theirs?

One man killed in WB when he ventured out to buy milk, just see the image in the attached link to see how they treat a single person. They will hit you without giving a chance to explain your reason for coming out.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/man-...-up-by-police/

That man gave just four hours for us to buy the essential supplies and that made further complications which we all know. And now we get beaten up when we go out for groceries, medicines

[AZT]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

Sorry mate. We are not a civilised country so fines should not be the norm.

No matter what you say, violence is not justified. These are sporadic instances but should be called out.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

My mother is admitted at a local hospital. I need to travel up & down once or twice a day. I carry some hospital papers along. The cops look at it, look at my grey head and flag me on. No mara-mari. I have explained to them that they'll see me several times. Our local grocery store is receiving supplies after hiccups the first day. At least in my corner of earth the Gurgaon police are handling things sensibly. I hope I haven't spoken too soon.

Wish your mother a speedy recovery. The cops are polite in my area as well, have a friend who also has to visit the hospital multiple times a day and no problems yet.

I think we are headed into an economic storm - a world wide slow down; a weak growth already in India which will now fall to nil; US-China trade war could get worse; our tax collections each month are tanking.....Looks like a 1991 scenario once again.

There is no sugar coating this. The economic hit will be massive.

[condor]

Early indications point towards an extension of the lock-down. Be mentally prepared, folks.

My only (slight) regrets are - we were looking for some items (not groceries and stuff). If we had got that earlier then some of our planned work would have been moving during this time.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Hopefully we shouldn't face any issues tomorrow. Alternately we have taken few other numbers of senior officers just in case we face any issues.

An update:
I traveled to Mysore and back today. Had taken photos of death certificate from the hospital. We were wearing masks throughout.
Onwards, we encountered only one checkpoint just before Mysore as the restrictions were relaxed until 10AM. We spoke to the police out there and showed them the certificate, they let us through.
While returning, we encountered 5 checkpoints and again at each checkpoints we had to show the certificate and our address to inform we are returning home.

Did not face any issue, but only venture out if there is an emergency. I did see some cars turned back by police.

NECE road is closed, but is accessible.
Very skeletal traffic throughout.
I have never seen Bangalore Mysore road so empty in my life. I didn't exceed 90KMPH throughout the trip.

Also a word of caution: If there is a breakdown, there is absolutely no help as no service centres are open and so are the recovery vehicles. I did see a taxi Indica with a flat tyre which was abandoned with hazards on.

[poloman]

There is a general trend in the country now a days to show police men in bad light by selectively leaking clips on social media and MSM. I agree to the extent that a majority of them are bad apples. But if there is no fear of Police, there is no law and order.

If some one has the audacity to point a pistol at police in broad day light or beat them to pulp on a busy road, something is going wrong.
Police is called the force for some reason. They can use force if the situation warrants. I agree in some clips police can be found guilty of using excess force. But situation may be totally different on the ground. Or there may been an order to bring things quickly under control during the initial days itself.

It is also a reality that some people tie everything to suppression of freedom, police brutality, autocracy, death of democracy, harassment of common man etc etc even when millions may die of pandemic or what ever.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by GladRagu

. And now we get beaten up when we go out for groceries, medicines

Ok. I too can ask proof from you sir, regarding how you are so sure that ALL the poeple venturing out are doing so in extreme emergencies.

Also what is the ideal timeframe THAT man should have given? 3 days, 4 days? 10 days? Since you seem to have high regard for the general public rather than the people helping curb a pandemic spread, are you sure that people will not venture out after the said time? The situation will be exactly the same. People (including me) would still need something else we need to get from the market. And we will be moaning and groaning that we have lost a big opportunity that we didn't bring enforcement earlier.

With regards to your argument that police are beating everyone to pulp without reason, please see posts subsequent to yours. And you have the answer. To add to that, I too was let off without hiccup today as I had a prescription of BP and Diabetes medicine which I had to get for my dad from the nearby chemist. The policeman even gave me a mask from the carton and sent me on the way. I was on foot so was the most vulnerable to the so called vicious cop attack.

As I said, there will be people opposing whatever and whenever such a decision is taken. It's the people's right to oppose. However, people are not decision makers right now. THAT man and the CMs are. So i don't think our arguments hold value other than to take bandwidth and memory on Team BHP servers.

Please note, I am in no way supporting the police action that 'allegedly' caused the death of the gentleman. My worry is the general disregard for authority even in dire times. And if people don't listen even now, when will they?

[Miyata]

I typically venture out in facemask and gloves. Also keep a pair of backup gloves in my pocket just in case. Every store that offers hand sanitizers at the door, I use it sanitize the handle of the cart as well!

Yesterday I went to the nearby 'more' stores. They did not have stock of many things - including bread, some lentils etc.

Decided to check out the nearby Dmart this morning. Although I did get pretty much everything that was on my list, bread was out of stock at dmart as well.

There were cops on the road most places, but none of them interfered with my movements. I could peacefully complete my grocery shopping and return with no damage done and no questions asked.

Also, all the nearby medical shops appear to be out of stock of basic protective gear - masks and gloves. Luckily I had got few packs of gloves, N95s, N99s, and general surgical masks from the US during my last visit. That seems to have come in very handy. Have also given away quite a few to folks nearby my apartment that asked for it.

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

Ok. I too can ask proof from you sir, regarding how you are so sure that ALL the poeple venturing out are doing so in extreme emergencies.

I agree with you here. I have seen many youngsters on the road doing absolutely nothing, taking selfies standing in the middle of the road, laughing about and sitting on the parchment and staring in their mobiles, etc. THis I have seen myself while I walked to buy medicines. Walked because the police stopped me, shouted and when told about the reason, said a lot of people give just this reason to pass from checkpost to checkpost. So he advised to park the scooter and walk.
I was allowed to walk, no danda/lathi was used on me. Although a biker returning had cautioned me that they are using the danda, while i was approaching the checkpost.

I also received a few videos of strolling public for no reason, when advised to strictly stay indoors. A couple of girls taking selfies, when they get caught by the police, and then they start shouting on the police.

Also read a news article where, when police confronted a couple of girls loitering about on open roads on bikes, the girl argued that till when can she be indoors and then bit the police (yes, bit). Both were jailed.

Another instance where a group was sitting together roadside, and when confronted by police, a few more ladies emerged from the slum and started abusing and hitting the police.

There are plenty of stories supporting both sides here, but one has to understand that staying indoors is the responsibility of the citizens, and police has been deployed to make sure the directive is followed. If they encounter 95 out of the 100 do not have a valid reason to be outside, they will assume that one is outdoor without reason unless the person can prove otherwise.

As someone rightly said, India is not a civilised country. One has to understand the type of people that they have to deal with. How much patience can one have after all? It is easy for us to see the news and give our suggestions on how this is bad and should not be done at all. It is completely different to get the job done in real life circumstances. The narrative changes completely.

[khanmaj]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

With regards to your argument that police are beating everyone to pulp without reason, please see posts subsequent to yours. And you have the answer. To add to that, I too was let off without hiccup today as I had a prescription of BP and Diabetes medicine which I had to get for my dad from the nearby chemist. The policeman even gave me a mask from the carton and sent me on the way. I was on foot so was the most vulnerable to the so called vicious cop attack.

As I said, there will be people opposing whatever and whenever such a decision is taken. It's the people's right to oppose. However, people are not decision makers right now. THAT man and the CMs are. So i don't think our arguments hold value other than to take bandwidth and memory on Team BHP servers.

Please note, I am in no way supporting the police action that 'allegedly' caused the death of the gentleman. My worry is the general disregard for authority even in dire times. And if people don't listen even now, when will they?

No one opposes the government orders on lockdown so please get over it and don’t blame others if they don’t agree with your views. Regarding the police barbarism, three police men were chasing a labourer yesterday right in front of my building because he out and did not a have place to live. The similar news have been reported from Anand Vihar railway station where police were chasing some homeless people who wanted to reach their homes in Bihar. My wife is sick and I have her diagnostic reports but cant go to the hospital in fear or these morons called police. They might mishandle before even knowing the reason.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by khanmaj

No one opposes the government orders on lockdown so please get over it and don’t blame others if they don’t agree with your views. Regarding the police barbarism, three police men were chasing a labourer yesterday right in front of my building because he out and did not a have place to live. The similar news have been reported from Anand Vihar railway station where police were chasing some homeless people who wanted to reach their homes in Bihar. My wife is sick and I have her diagnostic reports but cant go to the hospital in fear or these morons called police. They might mishandle before even knowing the reason.

Sure mate. We can learn to disagree and move on. And please, where did you get the feeling from my post that I am blaming anyone. Infact this is one of the rare scenario where I am supporting the men in uniform.

Sorry to hear about your wife's condition. As I said, people with VALID reason have no reason to fear. Should be amply demonstrated by some posts above. News and social media reports are not the most dependable sources of information and forums like team bhp are as accurate as they can get.

Please call up your family doctor and he/she will be glad to provide supporting documents based on their analysis of the condition. You should be carrying those (If your doctor feels a hospital visit is required) and you shouldn't have any issues. Hope your wife gets well soon.

[haria]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

Ok. I too can ask proof from you sir, regarding how you are so sure that ALL the poeple venturing out are doing so in extreme emergencies.

Absolutely! Today I had to go out and get some fruits (other than bananas) which were not available from the last few days. I walked to the market area (about 1km from my house). I wore a mask. I saw many youngsters going at crazy speeds, happily posing on the empty roads, taking selfies and what not. No seriousness whatsoever. Granted, they are young and will high energy levels, but this is heights of foolishness - 1) if they fall and get injured at these difficult times 2) causing nuisance value to the whole society.


I saw few cops standing nearby a bus stand, and asked them whether they didn't see the antics of these jokers. They replied that they had earlier pulled up the same gang and tried to counsel them - but apparently they are closely related to some political bigwig and they threatened these cops that they will face dire consequences if they get pulled in. One cop even told that no point in talking to these fellows, they will only get overly cocky and aggressive. Felt sorry for them (the cops) for having to do a dirty job. And, oh, they asked me what I was doing there, asked me to return. I told that I wanted to buy some fruits other than banana (banana not being too good for diabetic patients (my mom) They told me, try to come in the evening, when new loads come in. They were quiet helpful and polite.


If you treat them with respect and politeness, 9 times out of 10, they will respond in kind. There will always be the odd idiot cop, who will bring bad name to the whole community.

[zaks]

The issue we are seeing on the streets is because of 3 reasons-
1. Our people in general are poor in following rules and regulations and don't trust the authorities.
2. The issue has not been handled well by the administration causing doubts and chaos on the streets, they have reacted mostly without a good plan.
3. The lockdown cannot implemented like in other countries because our country lacks the logistic support required to implement it and we have something called unorganised sector which accounts for a massive amount of employment and that is totally left out of equation.


With all the above we are trying to do the best possible in our means and these issue are natural to occur, it is not easy to lock down a nation of 1.3 billion people many of whom are migrants in other states. It is an unprecedented step what we have taken, and time will only tell if it pays off.