Two police personnel of Sampigehalli Police Station were suspended for making a couple pay a fine of Rs 1,000 over their late-night walk on the road in Bengaluru on Friday night, the Bengaluru city police tweeted on Sunday.
"Two police personnel from Sampigehalli police station responsible for the incident have been identified and suspended and departmental action has been initiated. Will not tolerate deviant behaviour from its staff," said a tweet by Bengaluru city police.
Bangalore resident Karthik Patri shared the incident he faced with his wife. In no time his tweets became viral, which led to action by the Bengaluru city police.
In his tweet, Mr Patri said that he and his wife were walking back home after attending a friend's cake-cutting ceremony at 12:30 am.
They were stopped by a pink Hoysala patrol van while they were a few metres away from the entrance gate of their society behind the Manyata Tech park entrance gate, he added.
"Two men in police uniforms asked us to show our ID cards. We were taken aback. Why should an adult couple walking on the street on a normal day be asked to show their ID cards?" he tweeted.
"Anyway, we had nothing on us except our phones and a box of cake. Luckily, we had photos of our Aadhar cards. We promptly showed them to them. To our surprise, they took our phones away and started quizzing us about our relationship, place of work, parental details, etc," he stated.
"Though a bit shaken, we answered their questions politely. At this point, one of them took out what looked like a challan book and started noting down our names and Aadhaar numbers. Sensing trouble, we asked why we were being issued a challan," he further stated.
""You are not allowed to roam on the road after 11 pm," one of them retorted. Struck by the absurdity of the reason, we persisted: "Is there such a rule? We are unaware about it." "Literate people like you should know about such rules." he shot back," Mr Patri stated.
Mr Patri further tweeted that although not convinced, we decided to back down. It was late in the night; our phones had been confiscated; there was no help in sight, and the least we wanted was a confrontation with two policemen.
"We apologised for being ignorant about the rule and assured them of not venturing out at night again. We thought we were over it, but it was as if the two men were waiting for this moment. They refused to let us go and demanded Rs 3,000 as penalty. Our hearts sunk," he further stated.
Mr Patri stated that it was clear as day that the two men (tragic if they were indeed policemen) were out to con unsuspecting civilians, and they ended up being their victims. "We literally begged them to let us go, but they wouldn't budge," he stated.
"The more we pleaded, the harsher they became, even threatening to arrest us. It was as if we were stuck in quicksand - the more we struggled, the deeper we sunk. This continued for a long time, until the harassment became unbearable," he said.
"They showed us pictures of convicts and threatened us of dire consequences if we didn't pay up. I could barely hold my nerve, while my wife was in tears. Perhaps realizing that they had pushed a woman too far and fearing the legal consequences, they changed tack," he added.
"They said only I would be penalized. The man in the driving seat took me aside and advised that I pay a minimum amount to avoid further trouble. By now I was mentally drained and exhausted, my wife was terribly distressed, and I didn't want the ordeal to prolong even more," he further added.
"I agreed to pay Rs 1,000 and get done with it. The man immediately held up a PayTM QR code, waited for me to scan it and make the payment, and let us go with a stern warning: "If I and my wife are ever seen walking on the road at midnight, they would register a strong case...... against us and ensure that we keep circling around the court." We couldn't sleep that night or focus on work the next day. The whole incident has left a deep scar on our minds. It has shaken our faith in law-enforcement agencies," he further said.
Mr Patri raised questions to the Bengaluru City Police: Is this not terrorism, is this not legalized torture? Is this how honest, law-abiding citizens of this land are meant to be treated?
"If the protectors of the law themselves break the law and prey on hapless citizens, who do we turn to?" Mr Patri said in his concluding tweet.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
