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-   -   Bangalore cops take away properly parked scooter; want money to return it (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/192144-bangalore-cops-take-away-properly-parked-scooter-want-money-return.html)

New trickery by Bangalore cops?

https://twitter.com/sandygrains/stat...90757864845312 and the follow up posts for more.

Video from apartment cctv embedded in this tweet https://twitter.com/sandygrains/stat...95339022086145

This woman’s sister’s bike was parked outside their apartment building. A cop was caught on the apartments security camera while he took the bike from there to Fraser Town police station.

At the station the cops claimed that they had caught some man with the bike at Ulsoor Lake and impounded it.

They then charged her a “negligence fee” of 2k, no bill, “discount because she is a lady and came alone to the station, she should have brought gents along”, and made out a police case + hearing for a traffic act section that says leaving a vehicle unattended in the street is punishable.

Crazy. But is there any rule which allows traffic cops to impound the vehice if it was not causing harm or blocking anyone's way? I doubt it.

They cannot impound the vehicle citing negligence or preventive impounding. Looks like a money making racket.

If it were parked late at night in an empty street or left overnight in some public parking lot they would be fully justified. In broad daylight and in front of security cameras, after checking that the guards are looking elsewhere? That cop should be booked for vehicle theft.

A sheer case of misuse of authority by the concerned police official. Overzealous earlier and apathetic later.

I would like to praise the lady for her persistence and tenacity for using her TWITTER handle to get the issue well publicised, much to the dismay of the cops. Only hope the senior cops will realize their subordinates folly, misuse of authority and the unnecessary and avoidable harassment caused to the lady owner.

Or else, after service of a legal notice, the lady can file a case in a competent court to make the matter reach a logical conclusion. In case, many such misuse of authority cases come to the fore (the local press will know) , it can be a PIL in the High Court to seek justice.

They have already issued a citation that calls for a hearing but they probably collected the fee for “petty case avoidance” and won’t take it to court.

If she takes this to court, turns up with an advocate and shows the footage she can easily get it dismissed.

Right now thanks to her sister posting it on twitter many senior ACP and above rank police officers have responded.

Further, it has hit the media mostly because the police released her name and address to them including by tweeting a copy of the case filed so that local TV channels like Suvarna have started badgering her for a story. Gross violation of privacy, except that even with the recent SC judgement India doesn’t yet have any sort of privacy laws in place.

This was already reported in the newspaper today and the Police side of the story is that there was a two wheeler parked unlocked. They took it to the police station and later levied a fine of 400 rupees for the violation citing a clause.

They have not issued a receipt.

And the cop was looking to see that security was not nearby before walking off with that vehicle. I guess he didn’t expect a camera to cover that area.

The comments from the security people in the cam footage seem to be like “what is he doing?”, not sure why they didn’t stop him and enquire. May not have wanted to get into trouble with local constables and just notified the bike owner after the fact.

Additionally she says in another tweet that all the vehicles in that outside parking are left unlocked so the security people can move them around in case the parking lot gets crowded.

The same skullduggery was attempted by Delhi cops in 2013 when my bike was parked just outside my gate.

They picked up the bike in the dead of the night and slapped some unknown rule of Abandoned vehicles. One of them even had the gall to claim that the bike was lying on the side of the road for 2 weeks.

Few calls later, the bike was released(albeit not without damages, broken cowling, indicators and bent handlebar). Crooks and cretins, the lot.

Disclosing the case details (should be?) is illegal and after the SC ruling on privacy, it should be taken up by groups advocating privacy. A case should be filed in SC against such irresponsible acts and the SC should make sure the entire police system in India learns a lesson by getting those responsible dismissed and jailed. (High hopes :D)

In such situations & if you love your vehicle, my advice would be to pay the money and get it over with. With every passing day the damage to your vehicle will keep on increasing eventually the tyres, battery etc will go missing.

Let us not fool ourselves this is still India...you cannot do shit against the police, unless you have time and resources which most of us mango people do not.

Extremely sorry for going off-topic but reading about Bangalore cops touches my nerves.

From my experience of staying in Bangalore for close to 2 years (2012-13), cops and the Govt. machinery in Karnataka are one of the most corrupt forces in our country. They run an "organised crime", taking money openly, keeping "fixed rates" for getting work done, etc. I have had miserable experiences in this city which I still like due to other reasons.

I will cite 2 of my several experiences.

1. I went on a ride to Tumkur on my Bangalore registered bike. I entered the Tumkur city and went in the direction where there is a huge idol of Lord Hanuman near the road. Let there be 3 points A,B,C present in order on the road where B was between A and C. B had a U-turn and C was a junction 500 mts ahead of B.

I went from A to B and took a U-turn. At the turn there were a bunch of cops who stopped me by the side of the road after I took the turn. They asked for all the documents - licence, RC, PUC and insurance. I had them ready. Then they charged me that I had jumped the signal at C junction (which I never went) and that the police at the junction was the witness. I argued that I never went there and that I had taken a U turn right in front of their eyes.

Here comes the turn. The officer moves from English and starts talking in Kannada only. Says he will impound my bike for rash riding and breaking signal, etc. The other fellow beside him says, pay 200 bucks and go away. I relent, pay and ask for a receipt. They say if I want receipt then I will booked for riding a Bangalore registered bike in Tumkur and the fine would be 1000 bucks at least. I left. All this happened in at 4PM on a winter evening.

2. I needed a NOC for my bike. Going by my past experiences, my father put in word with his friend who was the then Transport Commissioner of Bangalore who immediately asked his PA to help me get a NOC. His PA put me in touch with a trusted agent who will get the work done. The agent asked me 3k (or 2k, don't remember) bucks. Upon questioning, he said he's not charging a penny for his commission but to get the file moving he has to pay fixed amounts to different people and it would be done in 7-10 days. I offered him a deal. Apply for my NOC, pay the fees for the application and I will collect it whenever it is done (even if it's 2-3 months, it's okay). He declined saying the application doesn't get processed if there's no bribe. He didn't want to give any false hopes.

With continuous fight from people like Waseem bhai, things might have improved now but I still have my apprehensions.

This response to this was worse than the act. Police tried to justify the act and then put her address on twitter. She was absolutely furious about this and was getting calls from media

Police did mistakes, I agree.
As the key was left intact, the same vehicle could have been taken away by a thief.
In that case, would the owner just leave as it is? He'd go to the same station to complain right?
The cop did a right thing by taking it to his safety, but, spoiled it by collecting money illegally.

Come on, it was in a building parking lot where all the two wheelers were left unlocked (not with the key still in), because the security staff had to shift vehicles around in case the lot got crowded.

And it was all observed by the building security on cctv camera so if it had been a crook lifting the vehicle instead of a constable, he would definitely have been caught.

It was in the street and not the building parking lot. Please Checkout the video.
Hey, but my source of information is from below:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...64946996873402

We'd know, only if we knew the police rode the bike or pushed it, from the video.

I'm not supporting the police but if the key was intact, it is her mistake too. I just didn't want to be biased.