Thief who is, Police who is?

I now firmly believe that only Indians are responsible for their poor state of unorganized life. This is not just about a particular sector or only some kind of people, this is our attitude obviously motivated by the existing and the pre-existing system and we are sincerely lost. Who is the sufferer? The poor! Who is responsible? We, I & you! Please don’t blame politicians for the sole reason that “we, I & You” don’t have the guts to take the corrective steps.

Till now I have only watched in movies & other fictions, listened to news & from people’s mouth that our government is corrupt. “How can they say this?” used to be my first reaction & I never believed in such stuff until yesterday night.

Corruption has reached every stratum of people domain & every one of us is involved in it except the younger generation who are isolated from the system. “No way, how all of us are involved in this? Hey, are you stupid? Why are you blaming all of us?” It was a matter of time when my egg exploded and I came in contact with the real world. Or maybe wait for your D day to have a change of perception about the Indian working system. It is deep but superficially researched. How are you involved? Example: Remember all the time you do not wear a helmet and drive or you may have bribed a babu at some government place to get your work done quickly etc. We may think it is ignorable, it actually starts a chain reaction and shows its true face in the long term.

At my D-Day, what so happened is as follows. We were four of us school friends getting together after years. We had planned a “to be” cool trip. Out of our meager earnings, we decided to act a bit royal & hence we booked a cab online. Yes, all of us were damn happy. We all tried hard to get this schedule fixed and when we met it was fun about to begin. We were on our way to Alibaug in Maharashtra, a 3-hour journey from Pune. Our average age would be 26. We talked a lot about our current happenings in life. Somehow the speaker in the cab was not able to connect to our mobiles. Hence it also turned us on to sing and play sort of Antakshri along the way. What a night it was turning into! We sang together & it was getting good. The driver of the cab was also sharing his vocals… la la la la la! As we were nearby to Alibag, we did observe the changes in the demographic & infrastructure. It was in a way similar to Goa with roof shade homes, coconut trees, single lane road, and swampy ponds here & there. Besides, it was already cold and a day of December… D Day for me & my friends. After 4 hours memorable trip to reach Alibag; we decided to check on the Sea first & the sound of the waves that we craved as we don’t come across it every other day. We told the driver to direct us to the beach & let us have a view of it. Sea fills the atmosphere with its music of friction & never-ending energy, but above all of this, it is peace giving, it is lovely and it is publically available to every person. Nagaon beach, we would have reached around 11 PM. It was a dark night. We did observe that the town was almost closed now & there were hardly any disturbances along the street as we swayed our cab through it. Still, sea waves are what we craved. Stepping out of the air packed cab, it was the sound of sea waves that hit us first. Man, we were excited! It was cold. It was dark. Hurray, at last, the wait is over & the night was ours. We had reached our destination.

Stretching our body we immediately proceeded to the beach, with few patches of lights here & there we tracked our way to an opening where few males were enjoying, singing, drinking beer & hola hola. We had a couple in our group and thus a single lady around many unconscious strangers. Beach was dark & we were soon concerned for the lady’s safety as no family was around. So after gratifying our cravenness for the sea, after clicking some pictures we decided to spend the night in a lodge & after a brief sleep, we will proceed again with our stored excitement & yes to let go of our frustration of work. Nagaon was almost closed hence we moved towards Alibag in search of lodges. We checked into few lodges & they were quoting a premium amount which was sounding futile for us to book it. After some more struggle, we found a beach where families were strolling & there was light around. I have had a nightlife at Goa & I have seen the open culture where freedom is felt & enjoyed by the citizen. Even at Mumbai’s Marine Drive people can safely roam around if any nuisance is not created by the visitors. We knew this much & I believe it is enough to take decision for staying there without any stress in a free India.

Keeping that in mind we decided to pass the time on this beach. There were boats around waiting for the morning to roll on. At last “yes feeling” was there but faith has something else in store for us! We talked a bit and built something with the sand. It must be 1 AM by now & we were high with the sea when a person in khaki focused a torch on us. He shouted & alarmed us to immediately leave the beach, which we did so. Reaching near to the khaki man, he took us to khaki men who were acting scrupulously. I should add this was my first ever direct encounter with a policeman where an interference had happened in my personal life. Obviously, Policemen are State protector & they have been given the right to interfere with established protocols wherever necessary. At that point in time, I believed in them. I didn’t know why, but a wind of exploitation was around. We were calm & they grew aggressive & soon abusive. Our first response among us “non-khakis” was in confusion. We were totally in conscious state & not a tinge of suspicion can be found in our physical appearances, still & thus begin the hour of intimidation, heated questions of our acquaintances and whereabouts. Soon lady on the group was the focal & assumptions based on the crimes across the globe were on our heads. We were told that some days ago, a woman was raped by her friends and it was the sole base that they were questioning us & actively interfering in our lives. 

Ladies in India are called to be on par with the men as per our Indian Constitution but the practical situation has always been twisted to personal motives & gains. We were still holding on the ideal theory of Police being our protector & hence we accompanied them… they were not. Lady was asked to share his father’s number & the head khaki was pressing on to call her father at this hour of midnight. Lady told the policemen that his father is a BP patient & to call him at this time might affect his health. It is logical & should be understood. However, we do not know their protocols so we had no option but to discuss the matter with them. But these guys were not even discussing anything with us. We showed them our IDs & told them that we all are working in some companies & that we belong to good families. This wasn’t helping & I don’t know why they were escalating it by raising their voice and talking to each other as if a big fish has been caught. I reiterate, we were totally in conscious state & we were not creating any nuisance around - No litter, no noise, no trespassing, no drug & no fight. The sole idea was to enjoy nature and spend some quality time together,

We were asked to sit in the Police vehicle & were directed to the police station, even though we were requesting them to discuss & understand our situation. This is India & we don’t want any unwanted situation tagged on anyone of us. India runs more by “what society will say” than logic. We have not committed any crime. Smiley faces were soon lost. Abusive words were thrown at us. Reaching the station all of us were made to stand & asked our whereabouts. Lady was called into the head's chamber alone & his father was called upon to inquire about her being with 3 males which she kept ensuring be her friend. The situation was “made” tense. We boys were okay about dialing to our fathers. Although this is not required by no law. We are not under 18 and could make our decision! We were so confused.

Soon it was made clear by a junior friendly khaki man & we were blatantly asked INR 10,000 to clear us from the situation & return clean slate, although our slate was already clear. I did notice a signboard in the chamber mentioning “crime” in it. The crime investigator soon showed his real face. We had no option. We could have denied but sorry we live in India & no one would want to have any unwanted event in the couple’s future who will be doing intercaste marriage. We paid the amount & left the place in the dark. We were looted by the protector. I don’t know of others, but I was highly tensed on this. I have always respected these men inside the khakis, maybe not anymore. All through the night, I was thinking about the homeless citizen of India.

Junior khaki men were clearly articulating to us that they know we are totally innocent & they are bound with their head’s presence that was all the way abusive. I don’t know how much of the share they have in 10k. Obviously, our mood was jeopardized & our faith was seriously challenged! You have no right to act like this. This is a serious issue & I have no idea how many people around India are getting exploited like this. You can call this democracy, I call this shame on democracy because if it could happen with four educated & earning people, do think of the uneducated & the helpless ones. Please introspect. This happened with us in Alibag Police Station of India.

What is your view on this? Has it ever happened to you? Do you not think that before fining us for breaking a complicated traffic law, we must be taught about the traffic laws? Is there enough sensitivity about this? Or should we not do anything & let the government first discover & amend the situation in maybe next century? What is the role of police in a country? How should they deal with the common public? Should youngsters be treated the same way as a person in his 40s or 50s or an old man? But above all, how should I restore my faith? Is India safe or we count ourselves in police states & start living in fear?

I hereby fully claim that the above mentioned each & every word are true and not a bit exaggerated if not under-explained. @https://rohitsay.blogspot.in/2017/12/thief-who-is-police-who-is.html