Digitlogics — Illegal use of authority

On my daily travel route from New Delhi to Noida, I use NH24 which right now is in its worst condition ever due to ongoing expressway expansion. At the UP gate entry only, earlier there was a major traffic light which now has been removed due to the construction and the policemen are controlling the traffic manually.

NH24 is the most congested are of my daily route and the police always try to make the most of money within this part as this road handles major traffic of office goers. Policemen do not bother and always keep ignoring the traffic jams but they get very attentive at the first sense of them making some money. I was stopped by a constable at the UP gate in the offence of jumping a red light when there is no traffic light within the vicinity. This guy with almost fake uniform, no name badge and even covering his face asked me to provide my documents which I provided as this was my first offence. I was completely unaware of their trick that once you hand them their documents, then starts the blackmailing of fining a challan of Rs. 1400 for jumping the red light in Uttar Pradesh. They were controlling the traffic and were standing almost in the zone of invisibility and blamed for not seeing him. He was barely concerned about the flow of traffic and was only bothered about his tobacco with full dedication.

Bringing on the light on the fact that on your first offence of jumping a red light you can only be fined upto Rs. 100 and he threatened me for a challan of Rs.1400 and suspension of my driving license. I only handed him my RC but no other document as by that time I felt that I will have to pay him much of the bribe for as many documents I hand him. So, I refused to provide any other document unless he calls a traffic inspector who actually has the right to fine me. But the traffic inspector need not to bother about anything except for his share at the end of day. Now comes the actual part of story, their role of mentioning that your driving license will be suspended and I will have to go miles to get my challan paid. Subsequently his hand under in the side of my seat was indicating the amount he needed at that instant with all 5 of his fingers standing tall like our national flag. I refused to pay the amount leading to it, the constable actively left the scene taking my RC with him left me hanging on the other side of road.

I went after him and asked him to fine me a challan of Rs.100 according to Motor Vehicle Act but he kept on threatening me. At that moment I pulled out my phone and asked him to pose for me so that I could take the matter further and resolve it legally but he had his face covered and he refused to show his face and also there was no name badge. He was not ready to tell me his name either nor he was handling me my RC back. So I asked the inspector resting inside the bunker to give me my RC back but as I said earlier, he hardly bothers about his duties.

At the conclusion, I left that place giving the constable Rs.300 which he quickly kept in his pocket as he did so much hardwork for that. It was his prize possession as it takes a lot to stand on roads at 40 degree temperature and running behind cars just to make sure their day ends well. Its a request to the higher authorities to keep a regular check on the duties assigned to the police personnel and make sure they carry themselves properly with their name badge and their face visible which all is applied on the public. Sometimes, traffic their is controlled by private guards hired by the company that is responsible for the construction in the vicinity and believe me they are much more competent than the traffic police in this job. Well this was my first experience and I believe this will be my last as from now on I know what to do under such conditions. I am writing this just to make people aware about the situation that they might get into if they are driving on the roads while many o[censored]s have experienced it.