[humyum]

Dude, Don't back down. There is a number on which you can complain about the traffic cops at their department, Don't know what it is in your city but google it, call them and complain. Usually they are very nice and will guide you.

Email all the higher ups in your city including the traffic commissioner and traffic commissioner. As a last resort, call that number which usually comes on the mobile which says call if a public servant demands a bribe.

If he damages your vehicle, call the news papers and tv channels and tell them the story.

I understand Licence, but why the RC book ?

and in which part of the country the fine is 1000 bucks for Rash Driving ? Its 100 bucks or 200 bucks here in Mumbai.

[IshaanIan]

Sad to hear about this most definitely atrocious behavior on the part of law enforcement authorities.

I've been stopped several times by cops (admittedly, I have been in the wrong half the time) for things like speeding or not carrying pollution certificate and other minor offenses. Once I was even stopped for checking on the O.R.R. and asked to pay a fine for using cruise control

Never have I ever had any trouble shrugging them off though, and thus I have never had to pay a fine/bribe/go to the station. Traffic police are generally from different backgrounds. The corrupt system and lowly salaries don't help either. Trust me, the way they are treated, isn't even humane. So one can't blame them for occasionally being a pain in the arse. Instead of being calm and asking them for reasons i.e: inviting them into a display of intellect where they might have to swallow their ego and admit they were wrong, all I do is to just stay calm and explain how I had no clue things were like such (without blaming the city for not having put up a sign etc.) or if I actually had committed a crime like jumping a red light by mistake or not carrying my pollution certificate, I jokingly ask them if that was the worst thing they had seen all day (again without blaming or pointing out to other people), explain to them how I'm not really a citizen that they ought to be worried about and at the most I get sent to see the inspector, have a chat with him about my family or where I study, and that's it. Trust me, it works. Remember to tread lightly on their egos.

Attaching an image with best possible description in short period.

I am planning to take it forward. No compromise. i cannot pay for a virtual mistake which hasn't been committed.
Even if they want to charge me for Violating traffic Signals, my car should have crossed more than 10+meters.

[Biraj]

You might want to wait for a day or two, before deciding on the next steps. At this point your decision making abilities might be susceptible to adrenaline.

One question - Would you have been able to continue on that broken path till the signal (and even beyond) or would you have rejoined the lane that you had left, if the traffic police had not stopped you?

[bread]

In such cases even a local corporator will be able to help.
First get your license and RC back then take whatever steps you think are appropriate.
First of all you need to get your papers back.

[hellmet]

Call +91 9010203626 (From HTP Facebook) and see if they will listen to you. May also help posting on HTP Facebook page.

Relax, you can always get new RC/DL or even a new vehicle. Stay calm and pursue your case.

[a4anurag]

Hello sir,

Sad to see them behave in such a way. Their caption is nice but they don't work the way it means:

"For you, with you, Always!"

Do try and shoot a mail to the traffic guy nearest to your house / point of incident do that done action can be taken.

http://www.htp.gov.in/ContactUs.html

Please do update the thread with the outcome.

All the best.

Anurag.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

...he wants me to pay a fine of 1000 for Rash driving. I ask why? For which he doesn’t have any answer.
...
They write a challan and ask me to sign on the same. I duly rejected it. They wrote, “refusing to sign” and later, i was taken to Police station.
...
They started threatening that they will tow my vehicle away and damage the complete front part.
... “He should pay fine for Rash driving”

They took my licence and RC.

Take a deep breath first, and relax.

Now understand the law and rules.

What the traffic policeman has asked you to do is to compound your offence and pay a fine on the spot.

You have refused to accept your guilt by refusing to sign the 'challan'. You are well within your rights to do so. In that situation the policeman can ask you to appear before a magistrate and pay a fine as decided by the magistrate. You can tell the magistrate exactly what the policeman has threatened you with. He is not even empowered to impound your car / car keys unless you were DUI (the question of which does not arise anyway). The max he can do is confiscate your driving licence and give you a proper receipt for it - the receipt is valid as a licence for you to continue to drive.

It says Section 184. And i am against Cellphone driving...

You also have your call records to prove that you were not using your cellphone while driving. Show that to the magistrate. Tell him you've been framed. Find a good lawyer if required.

Let's hope for a positive outcome from this for you, as well as for other drivers in a similar predicament because of police high-handedness.

[null]

If I could recommend, try to involve the media if you are going to the court so that you get the right coverage since you are on the correct side. This way, you are not bullied by both legal & police depts. Also, take up this court option after checking with the police higher-ups. Generally, when such issues go up the ranks in the dept, they would look into it seriously and resolve it correctly to avoid any damage to their department (so having media backup helps in this situation for you).

[joju]

I guess many of us have experienced similar police high-handedness - I have, couple of times. Hope you manage to prove your point and the policeman learns a lesson. However, if the traffic congestion was due to a bottleneck ahead, you should not have tried to beat it by driving through the sandy right lane.

Joju

[sohail99]

Its fairly common here, to be stopped by traffic police for no reason and being challaned!!

Same thing had happened to me! After I had crossed a traffic light, which I'm a 100% sure, was green at the time of me leaving the stop line, the cops flagged me down (and there was still traffic behind me crossing the same light), when asked about the matter, they said that I had jumped the red light!!

I challenged their decision as I'm a strict follower of traffic rules and would never do that, and I knew I had passed on green!

After a bit of argument, he accepted that I had passed on green indeed! But instead of letting me go, he told the constable to put another challan instead, that of a rash driving!!
I asked him about where had I driven rashly and he didnt say anything, niether did he budge(ignoramuses). No amount of arguing helped and since I was in a hurry to get to the hospital, I had to yield.

After the incident, I shot several mails to traffic police higher ups and even lodged complaints on their website, but didn't hear back from them.

Add me to that list too @gemi_kk

[JoseVijay]

Seems like this is happening with most of the traffic cops in Hyderabad.

Last week I showed hell to 8 traffic constables and 1 S.I. The incident took place as below (copied from an earlier post).

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

On Aug 2nd, Saturday, I had gone to City Government College which is beside the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to drop my Sister-in-law as she works there. While going inside the college campus, I noticed traffic cops doing their 'DUTY'. I parked my car inside, came out and just watched the fun. They were literally looting people publicly. They were collecting money without giving challans to the offenders. I watched all the nonsense for 1 good hour. The driver of the towing van watched me for 10 mins and alerted the S.I and his colleagues.

On being alerted, the S.I sent one of his men to talk to me. This was the following conversation..

Cop: Sir, what are you watching? If you are from press, my S.I is asking you to go near and take a picture of what we are doing.

Me: No, I am not from press. I am just a common man watching all the drama.

Cop: You should not stand here for long. You are obstructing us from discharging our duty.

I had a hearty laugh at this

Me: I will talk to....(Name and position not mentioned) and will find out whether this is the duty that they have asked you to do.

Cop: If you want you can report this to press.

Me: No press. One pic is enough for me.

Cop: Yes sir. One pic will be enough and all of us will be suspended.

That's it. When I used few names with whom I have genuine relationship, the cop was scared. The conversation continued for sometime and in the meanwhile this cop showed some weird signs to the S.I and I noticed all the cops slipping from the place on their bikes one by one. Slowly the S.I also sat in the towing vehicle and left the place immediately.

gemi_kk,

Please let us know the current staus of the incident. Some of us can help and do something about this. I will P.M you my number.

Originally Posted by Biraj

One question - Would you have been able to continue on that broken path till the signal (and even beyond) or would you have rejoined the lane that you had left, if the traffic police had not stopped you?

The road is very much drivable. It would be like the regular road, without tar. No problems at all. All trucks go on it. Buses do go on it. Auto's run on it and take a U turn at the signals. Just run through the above pic, you will get it.
Me running on it is not a problem at all. Its one man's ego to trouble others. Nothing else.

I entered 40% into dirt track when i entered initially, and partially not on dirt track. when the cops stopped me. As said, Auto's take a U turn and i need to straight, so i had to switch to second lane. My vehicle hasn't moved anything more than 1.3-1.5 meters horizontally, as I am against taking hard turns. I take turns gently.

The area i am talking of has 4 lanes on each side. Auto's stop in the middle lane for customers. The same is the case with buses, school buses.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Sad to see them behave in such a way. Their caption is nice but they don't work the way it means:

"For you, with you, Always!"

Do try and shoot a mail to the traffic guy nearest to your house / point of incident do that done action can be taken.

He couldn't give a proper response to one question. What have I done wrong to pay the fine? I have no confidence that they will respond if I drop a mail. I saw them working. Vijay Said above, how they work. It doesn't add any value writing emails, when the other person is not willing to read. Forget responding to your mails. Better don't waste your time in doing this.

Originally Posted by null

If I could recommend, try to involve the media if you are going to the court so that you get the right coverage since you are on the correct side.
Generally, when such issues go up the ranks in the dept, they would look into it seriously and resolve it correctly to avoid any damage to their department (so having media backup helps in this situation for you).

Tried doing the same today. travelled to their Head office, which is ~30 kms away. And was sent back by the guards saying second Saturday. Ohh God.
Regarding media, i have no comments as of now. As they aren't that clean either.

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

The road is very much drivable. It would be like the regular road, without tar. No problems at all. All trucks go on it. Buses do go on it. Auto's run on it and take a U turn at the signals. Just run through the above pic, you will get it.

I had been to L.B Nagar yesterday and while coming back had a look at the above mentioned place/road. I had no words to say when I saw the place.

The place/road was not a smooth one. It was a rough road with potholes here and there. One question flashed my mind: How could anyone drive on this road in a rash manner?
gemi_kk, what is the latest update?

[joybhowmik]

Did you get a receipt for the confiscated papers? It seems the policeman is out to harass you. You may want hire a lawyer to file a case against the traffic cop and the SI for wrongful seizure of the documents if you did not get a proper receipt.