[FURY_44]

Hey Juggernaught, I have been following this incident even before it was on Tbhp, there were multiple video forwards about this incident in biking groups and good that now you have created a thread for it in TBHP.

However I found the below comment in the video that Gurby Dhar has uploaded on Youtube about this incident. Is that you, so you were also a part of this ride?.

Originally Posted by Juggernaught

Yesterday, a cousin of mine along with his friend went on a small bike ride from Bangalore towards Hassan on their individual bikes to take a break from the daily routine as the lockdown in Karnataka has been relaxed between 7 AM to 7 PM and intercity travel is also allowed.

[Juggernaught]

Originally Posted by FURY_44

Hey Juggernaught, I have been following this incident even before it was on Tbhp, there were multiple video forwards about this incident in biking groups and good that now you have created a thread for it in TBHP.

However I found the below comment in the video that Gurby Dhar has uploaded on Youtube about this incident. Is that you, so you were also a part of this ride?.

Nope, I wasn't a part of this ride. That's my cousin who has commented on the video. He just missed the part to say I posted it sort of on his behalf

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

The advice I have been giving to people in my neck of the woods is that be careful. After all the cops have been without 'income' for two months, and are likely to be hungry.

Very practical, very sensible advice even during normal times and especially so during this period.

I'm not a fan of group rides, I don't see the point. I find superbike groups especially irritating (possibly because I can't afford one ). BUT that's JUST my opinion, that does not make them wrong or illegal!

Medically speaking, does a small group of people going out on a Sunday ride on superbikes represent a bigger risk of virus spread than a group of travellers going by car to their hometown? Or a group of 15 at a wedding? (Both of which are already being allowed.) Or the inevitable crowds going to religious places when they open soon?

But speaking practically, it is better for those of us who pursue these things (I don't do group rides, but before the lockdown I used to go outdoors almost every weekend with a small group for a weekend sport activity; am hoping to resume soon) to understand that things like group rides, going outdoors to exercise, etc. will always be soft targets for the cops, especially now. Those kinds of activities will never have any sympathy with the general public who does not see the need for those things simply because it's not important in their lives. In fact non-participants now have the 'moral'/'greater-good' card to play as well!

So better to be cautious for some time.

[mh09ad5578]

For everyone who's supporting the police, remember the most important point - no proof! Everything else is irrelevant. Innocent till proven guilty is what our laws say. So all other say is BS. Also Sunday was not a lock down in Karnataka and if distancing rules were maintained it was legal.

[killjoy]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

For everyone who's supporting the police, remember the most important point - no proof! Everything else is irrelevant. Innocent till proven guilty is what our laws say. So all other say is BS. Also Sunday was not a lock down in Karnataka and if distancing rules were maintained it was legal.

you have been watching too many Hollywood movies, innocent until proven guilty does not apply in India! Here the police treat us as guilty until proven innocent.

[paragsachania]

And, nobody is supporting the Police action here, especially the way they penalised for offence like over-speeding with absolutely no evidence which is a must.

They have also added "Disobedience" as one of the offence casually which shows what their intent was and irrespective of whether there was traffic violation or not, for sure they would have extracted the money from the bikers anyhow. If there was photo shoot with parked bikes, I won't be surprised if they would have simply penalised for "Public Nuisance" which is their favorite section.

The views from many including myself only reiterated the fact about the risks involved when riding in groups in present conditions. You don't want to risk dealing with cops who are as of today deprived of many such things that I don't want to type it here, including lost targets since the beginning of lockdown days.

For a fact, I learnt from another BHPian who was cycling on the same day on this stretch that he noticed a group of bikes pass by and said : Everyone was riding carefully and didn't notice anything rash or dangerous.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

For everyone who's supporting the police, remember the most important point - no proof! Everything else is irrelevant. Innocent till proven guilty is what our laws say. So all other say is BS. Also Sunday was not a lock down in Karnataka and if distancing rules were maintained it was legal.

I am surprised that not many are aware that all Sundays have complete curfew in Bangalore as part of the Lockdown 4.0 rules. I am not sure if it applies to other parts of Karnataka and it may even be applicable to whole of Karnataka. So if they did ride on a Sunday, then they were in violation of rules and cops were well within their rights to catch them. I am not defending cops here but would not have created such a issue if they fined everyone on roads though. These guys don't seem to maintain any social distancing of any sort and what they did by riding as a huge group was stupid and easy money for cops.

[paragsachania]

This was on Saturday guys! The OP has clearly mentioned it that it happened a day before he created this thread.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

For a fact, I learnt from another BHPian who was cycling on the same day on this stretch that he noticed a group of bikes pass by and said : Everyone was riding carefully and didn't notice anything rash or dangerous.

It usually takes one or a small group of nincompoops (quite often a moto-vlogger with boy racer fans) to bring the entire fraternity down. And very often, these guys happen to be 'powerful', well-connected etc., as a result of which nobody even within their own groups opposes them.

Originally Posted by whencut86

I am surprised that not many are aware that all Sundays have complete curfew in Bangalore

This incident happened on Saturday.

[Jerryaj]

Without going into the legal and moral point of view, or commenting on who is right and who is wrong here, let me add my 2 cents to this topic.

Sometimes I feel we get carried away by emotions and start commenting. As far as I know, on National highways the speed limit for cars is 100 KMPH (except expressways) and for two wheeler it is still less (if I'm not wrong its 80KMPH). In this case it is easier for police to target superbikes as they can easily cross this limit without much fuss (and mostly are above this limit) and the law is also not on the side of bikers (as far as speed is concerned). Chalan without proof is wrong but bikers are easy target for them for the said reason.

We have to agree, that for enjoying our superbike we do break the speedlimit and mostly superbike riders are fined for speeding, overspeeding and rash driving.

My intention is not to point out anyone, this is just my general observations. People might disagree with me, I appreciate their insights and views.

[vishwasvr]

I managed to escape this nonsense thanks to my wife sitting behind me. I just slowed down and gestured that I will pull over, but then the minute he saw my wife I think he decided not to bother me and I seized the opportunity and rode away. Of course at the Nelamangala toll I pulled over and waited for my friends to come out of it a few hours later.

I had to make a dash for my freedom because had I pulled over then my weekend riding would have come to a grinding halt and would have had to face the music from both my wife and my parents

We just have to take this with a pinch of salt and move on. For 2 months the cops obviously didn't have their "regular income" hence made up for lost time.

They could not have made it obvious about fleecing hence the flimsy accusations of "dangerous driving" etc.

IMO they could have simply said pay the fine and leave. Would have saved a lot of hassle for a lot of people.

Going forward, I think its a better idea to use a slightly more circuitous route rather than using the same route to and fro (like going to Hassan road and come back via Mysore road). At least this way, they won't know which route we will take for them to plan on their "attack".

Might be a bit longer and more time consuming but it is still far better than going through such nonsense.

[roby_dk]

Sorry to say but a 100 km bike ride specially in this particular time does not make any sense to me. In total the riders are driving more than 200 kms to fulfill their itch to ride a machine.

I feel pity for those who feel they followed all the rules all along and never crossed the legal speed limits. If they want some air it could have been done simply by making multiple trips to nearby markets everyday in this lockdown period. I believe it is karma they went out for a joy ride and then faced the consequences. As simple as it sounds. The only thing they want from a 200km ride was to drive on high speeds to get that adrenaline rush.

To take it otherwise if we take the best case scenario means they really followed all the traffic rules religiously. In that case they didn't pay any fine and hence they should feel good that justice prevailed.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by Samurai

And police heavily rely on profiling.

Seems to be working well for the police in the US.

[Thilak29]

I am fairly frequent on this stretch and most of the time over weekends. I would say most of bikers I come across on this stretch are unruly and dangerous. So over years a solid poor reputation is built against these bikers en masse.

During one of my early morning drives, a bikes followed me with high intensive lights (headlight + accessorized lights), when I let him pass I realized he had bright Police styled blinker stuck at rear end too and my woe continued for very long stretch that morning. When I found the biker at a restaurant, I shared my piece of mind to him, politely.

[TwistedFaith]

Folks want to just add my pointless two paise to this thread.

#1: Let me preface what I have to say with this, what the police did is undoubtedly high handed, illegal and unfair.

That said, I happen to live close to the highway and the peace and quiet of the Lockdown finally ended with the roadblocks being removed on Friday and flyovers being opened to the public.

I may be confused between your cousin's trip and a completely different incident that happened here on Saturday, but around 5pm I could clearly heard the high pitched whine of superbikes speeding along on what I am hoping was a deserted flyover.

The noise stopped in about 30-45 mins. I commented on a WhatsApp group about this and heard about the police here stopping all bikers in riding gear etc etc. Now I'm sure most of them were innocent and had nothing to do with anything. But there were definitely a few who were speeding from what I could hear at least 2-3 km away.

This is completely hearsay now, but someone who claimed to know what happened said a high court judge was returning to the city from the airport and witnessed this... He apparently gave a dressing down to the cops and they may have reacted this way.

Again... It doesn't justify handing out challans on made up charges to anyone and everyone they can catch. But bikers really need to look within their own community first. Have been overtaken by speeding bikers and supercars doing 160+ kmph for sure UNDER the flyover at times. So I'm not at all doubting that that at least a few were "enjoying" empty flyovers.