Like yesterday.
I’m thinking about what made me behave/act/think and talk like the way I did on the bus with the Police yesterday. Was it knowing more about them through my visits, that helped me talk to them as people first and the police second? That helped me overcome my sense of fear around the Police? Did my hanging out with them enable me to see them with a new lens: the lens that these guardians of our law are our friends- out to help us, to make our lives better.
It’s puzzling.
However, yesterday’s incident leaves me a little stirred.
My friend Mamta and I cut a day pass on the BMTC bus for our Sunday Bengaluru vagabonding. The ticket cost us Rs 70 each. The conductor handed us a pass slip which had "revised to Rs.65" written on it and gave us a regular bus ticket of Rs 5 to make 70. We exchanged concerns over the increasing prices of bus tickets and brought to mind the protest being held by ALF in the city yesterday, regarding the increasing bus ticket costs, which our friend had told us about. Thought, maybe we should go join in.
The entire day we used the pass and travelled tirelessly watching the busy city's Sunday bustle.
On our way back home in the evening, we were travelling from BTM layout to Hebbala in a bus. Midway through the journey a police man entered the bus. He started to check each passenger’s ticket. When he checked mine I had my Rs 65/- pass slip with me but had misplaced the Rs.5/- one. I told him so and said that I’m sorry. The police accused me of being a ticket-less traveller. He told me that this pass is not valid and that I would have to pay a fine. I told him that the conductor had checked my pass and didn't invalidate my ticket when I boarded the bus. Had I been told then, I would have paid the charge for the full ticket for my journey from BTM to Hebbala. I told him that my intention was not to cheat. I reasoned with him that it’s not fair to call me a ticket-less traveller since I had a Rs 65 ticket coupon on me for which I had paid for in the morning. The police man told me that it’s a crowded bus- that there are so many people in it and that the conductor cannot possibly check everyone's ticket in detail. I asked him whether that was my fault. He raised his volume and told me that the fine is Rs. 500 and that he was being lenient by charging us Rs. 100 or such. I told him that the amounts didn't matter and had I done any wrong I would pay the entire amount without the slightest hesitation. But here I was being accused for something that I had not committed- I was not a ticket less traveller. He threatened to take us to the police station for which I gladly smiled and said that I would be happy to come. I tried to converse with him politely at each instance- telling him that I accept it to be my fault for having misplaced the Rs. 5 ticket but the rule he was applying on me was not justified because I was not a ticket-less traveller. I negotiated to buy a ticket from the place I had boarded the bus to the place I wanted to go, having now realized the invalidity of the pass without the Rs. 5 ticket, brought to light by him. The police man shouted and refused to even listen to what I was trying to tell him. I was asking him to be more responsive (concepts which my Law professor had taught me in class), trying to identify intent and apply the law contextually. I tried to reason with him, but it was like trying to enter a door whose doors were already shut. And shut tight.
A girl sitting near me in the bus offered a Rs 5 ticket from her previous journey. I thanked her but refused to take it.
The people on the bus got involved. They didn't find it fair too but most of them stood there and watched. When I stood my ground and told him that I wouldn't pay him any money he got more furious. We asked him to return to us our passes. He refused. Mamta asked him for hers since hers was complete and he flung it across at her. He challenged us to go complain about him to anyone and I told him politely that I shall. I recognised the two stars on his uniform and I understood that it symbolized a sub-inspector position. He wasn't wearing any name batch though- which all police-men are supposed to be wearing I reckon, as I have seen this on all their uniforms on my visits. So I asked him for his name. He refused to tell us. I asked him for details like phone number and which police station he belonged to. Also, I know that on the uniform of each police officer, is a unique number which is something like a roll number for the police. I didn't see this too on his uniform. I asked him for his name several times, asked him why he was refusing to give us this information. I then got my phone out to photograph him as a last resort, to which he gripped my hand and brought it down. I roared at him about this kind of behaviour. I tried to photograph the police person who was accompanying him and he too covered his face with a sheet of paper and quickly moved to the front of the bus and they got off.
The entire bus started talking. Smiling at us, showing us hand signs symbolizing thumbs up. A boy came up to us and shared with us the anti-corruption India helpline number for us to report the incident to. The bus driver and conductor paid us a salute for the way we enquired, how we made a noise and fearlessly dealt with the police. They shared with us the BMTC complaints number for us to report the incident. It was around 8.30 pm and we were the only two girls in the bus. They asked us where we were headed to and told us which buses will take us there.
I had seen the fear which gripped the conductors face when the police man had walked into the bus. I saw him paying the police man some money. I asked him why he did that. He said that it’s pointless to fall “Inke chakkar mein” in kannada. We told the people on the bus about how we must ask, question and know information because it’s our right to know. The people nodded in agreement and smiled at us. There were amused expressions. Suddenly everyone in the bus looked at us differently- it was a look of respect, awe, wonder, amusement.
Now, I'm not sure if those men were our police personnel friends. Mamta says that they weren’t. I have a feeling that they probably were- only that they were conveniently not wearing their I.D number and name-plate badges. (A sign that they were up to no good, eh?)
Also, what leaves me disappointed is how everyone offered to help AFTER the police left the bus and not so much while he was on the bus. Nobody interfered while the conversations were happening. Vibes of fear could be felt across the bus when the police or rather the fake police were on the bus.
Why do we fear them- these guardians who protect us, so much? Are we taught to fear them or have incidences like this instilled this sense of the power equation between us, making us fearful of these people? What stops us from interfering to help someone in need? I have observed our tribe to be very interfering otherwise in matters quite personal- be it somebody's marriage/ lovers’ information or a count about the fleet of cars/ belongings that the people around us may own etc. But why does that interference stop in times of needing help or support? What stops us from speaking up when we see wrong? How have we learnt to turn blind during such times? Is it fear of the law that stops us? But laws are made to help us- are they not? The Law recognizes intent or should recognize it so as to help people trust and have faith in their Law and the safekeepers of our law. The question remains about how we must do this? How do we help law recognize intent and deliver justly, without the looming danger of law being taken into the guardians’ own hands through the arbitrariness which the application of responsive law brings with it?
....
am looking for my solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment