U.A.E EMBASSY BOMBAY.
I had been a resident of Pune and made frequent trips to Bombay for my lectures while doing postgraduate studies in the late 80s, so I had ample opportunity to study the Police in Maharashtra and in particular, Mumbai.
As one of the reviewers has done, let me begin with an apology to all those true professionals who practice in harmony with their conscience or religious precepts-this review is not about them.
I was travelling from Trivandrum to Bombay to get my certificates attested at the U.A.E embassy in 1989. I was quoted a figure by a policeman at the desk which equated to approximately Rs 800/- per certificate. As I had about 12 certificates this meant Rs 9600/-. I saw how this man took my certificates to 2 other colleagues conferred on the price to be charged, openly, as he thought I did not understand Marathi.
I politely accepted his offer and agreed to pick the certificates up after lunch.
Now, a wife of one of my cousins was at the time a journalist on Mid-Day and I used the lunch interval to wander over and meet her at her office. Over a cup of tea I mentioned my visit to the embassy and she very kindly agreed to give me a lift to the embassy to accompany me to pick up the certificates.
We entered the embassy and the policeman hurried over, all smiles and my relative flashed her press card-you should have seen his jaw drop! He maintained his plastic smile while berating me for what he perceived as a ’dirty’ trick.
I was all innocence and started counting my money openly-he forcibly tucked my money into my pocket explaining to my relative, that it was all in good fun and he wanted only Rs 800/- for all the certificates-for ’chai-pani’. I asked him if he was sure? He thumped me on my back (rather harder than necessary), handed me the certificates, smiling all the while and said that was all he wanted and that is the last I saw of the policeman at the U.A.E embassy in Mumbai.
THE RETURN TRIP-?JAYANTHI JANATA
The return trip was even more fascinating. having concluded my affairs at the embassy, I boarded the train to Trivandrum. I was travelling 2nd class sleeper and was woken by a fellow passenger who appeared distressed and was in fact weeping. He related a sorry tale which I found irritating at the time as I was a total stranger and had been woken up from sound sleep (aided by my Father’s army quota rum) He had come to me as he had noticed that I was multilingual and narrated that he was a carpenter whose contract had run out in one of the Gulf states.
He was therefore carrying gifts for a lot of relatives and a sizeable amount of gold. Now, there are 2 uniformed policemen with rifles who act as guards and patrol the compartments. One of them had approached this man and asked him to open his suitcase as it looked very ’gulf returned’-having helped himself to a few odd bits his attention was diverted by the gold chain that this man was wearing. His curiosity in fact made him divest the owner of his chain and having moved to a point near the toilets, proceeded to energetically use his teeth to bite a portion off.
He explained between threats of bodily harm, to the owner, that this was in fact due to his good nature, as the owner had said that the the chain was earmarked as a wedding present for his sister, who was getting married soon after his arrival! Having successfully broken off half the chain, he then placed it in his pocket, returned the other half to the owner and continued to patrol with his colleague. Petrified by the experience and knowing no Hindi or Marathi , our man retired to his berth. He had come to me approximately an hour after the incident and the train was about a half hour from Pune at the time.
You will agree, dear reader, that this was a tale to wake anyone up! I was a young middle class guy and my dad had recently retired as a senior officer in the Indian Army, so I considered that I was safe taking matters a bit further. Everyone appeared to be sleeping , so accompanied by this man, I sought out our ’good natured’ policeman. He noticed my companion from a distance and in fact walked towards me calling out to his companion who materialised as well. surprisingly the Ticket examiner , who I’m sure was party to these misappropriations, graced us with his presence. Aggressively the the policeman involved asked me what I wanted. I told him in a very even tone without once raising my voice or getting excited, that he was a thief and explained what he had done, to the others (as if they did not know)and finished by saying that I would like him to return the half of the chain that he had stolen.
He shouted at me and asked his colleague to arrest me! I asked, on what charge? He said for being drunk and disorderly. I explained that I was a doctor and would insist on a blood test, which would prove that I was not drunk, and then would take time over preparing my own case against him, to see that he did not work in the police force again.
At this point I had to jump away from the door as the policeman colleague appeared to have ’stumbled’, in fact, that particular lunge if it had landed would have resulted in ejecting me bodily from the moving train. This turn of events seemed to rattle the man who had started all this in the first place. Noting his obvious fear the policemen turned on him and asked him in loud voices to state whether he was sure of his facts.
To my disgust, this man was so scared that he now said that he might have been mistaken-you could see the obvious relief on the policeman’s face-he berated me for supporting a man not sure of his facts and said that he had half a mind to book me, but as I was acting out of genuine concern for a fellow human being and as he was a slave to his good nature-he was letting me off. There was nothing to do but return to my berth-we had reached Pune station and the policemen got down and drank tea outside the compartment, as if nothing had happened.
This somehow irritated me to the extent of turning to other passengers in the compartment and asking them whether these men should be let off? and should we not provide moral support to this man , pull the chain and stop the train leaving and ensure that a charge was filed in Pune? The answer was a resounding ’NO’. No one was willing to help this man. The man himself had gone back to his berth and resigned himself to his loss. He woke me up once again after the train had crossed the Maharashtra border, to ask if I would help him file a case at that station . I accompanied this man to that station and filed a case. After we had gone through the formalities, the policeman there told us this had been a pointless exercise and if anything needed to be done the case should have been filed in Maharashtra!
QUESTIONING
I once saw an attractive village woman being taken for ’questioning ’ sitting on the crossbar of a Havildar’s cycle, her husband who had a few charges for petty thieving seemed completely helpless. Friends, we know how helpless the case is for the poor man in good health, Think by what factor these atrocities are multiplied when applied to those who are vulnerable, the disabled, those who have petty convictions and are just outside the law, think of those who are homeless or without powerful officials to help them.
EPILOGUE
I have had the privilege of seeing innocent India in the villages and among the poor, it is their enduring spirit that keeps them cheerful in the face of the thieves and criminals who profess to protect them and strut around in uniform. If there are young readers, my sincere advice is never turn your back on anything that troubles you morally, despite all the advice to the contrary-get involved, even if the si