Bengaluru: Minutes after clearing alcometer test, man held for drunken driving by police

Bengaluru: “You are a shameless man and a bl**dy drunkard, who has come to save your illiterate children and support them for their involvement in drunken driving. We will book you and your other son as well for creating nuisance,” these were the words of a police official from Cubbon Park traffic police, when J. Anjaneya, a 60-year-old retired central government employee, approached the police after his 31-year-old son was caught for drunken driving. Interestingly barely few minutes before being caught, he was cleared by the Koaramangala traffic police.

Anjaneya, a resident of Kempapura in Hebbal, along with his 23-year-old son Nitin had a nightmarish experience at the hands of police. They were allegedly harassed and abused inside the Cubbon Park traffic police station and threatened that they would booked for creating nuisance in a drunken state.

To add to the misery, when Anjaneya, dialled the control room for help there was no response. Even a help message sent to the Bengaluru Traffic police official page station went unnoticed, alleged Nitin, a student.         

It all began when Nitin got a call from his elder brother around 12.45 am on Sunday that he has been caught for drunken driving. Narrating the ordeal, Nitin told DC, “My brother was caught drunken driving with a reading of 550 (the permissible limit is below 40) on the alcometer. To his surprise, few minutes before the police had cleared him at an earlier check post (near Domlur, Embassy Golf Links). When he asked the police to check again he was abused by them.”

He further said, “My brother conceded that he had two pints of beer and the police even cleared him in one check post. But, when he was stopped at the other one near Hard Rock Café on MG Road, the reading came 550, which was extremely high for two pints of beer consumed almost two hours before he drove the car. Soon after the call my father and I reached the check post around 1.30 am to submit the original documents of the car and his original driver’s licence. When asked to send my brother to the hospital for blood test or give another chance to use the alcometer, they started accusing my father of drinking (he had not consumed alcohol) and creating a nuisance for police work, and chided me for taking a video of the happenings at the spot.”

When Anjaneya tried reasoning with the cops, he was abused and threatened of being booked for being drunk and creating nuisance. “The cops didn’t pay any heed to what my father was saying. He is a senior citizen who was ready to cooperate with the investigation and even told the cops that if, his son was found guilty of consuming alcohol above the permissible limit, he should face stringent action. However, the cops on duty began accusing my father of being drunk and creating nuisance. We asked them to send my father for blood test to prove he’s not drunk, they said they will, but never did the same,” Nitin said.

The horror didn’t end here for Anjaneya and Nitin. After an argument with the cops, the father-son duo was allegedly taken to the police station and some traffic cops harassed them.  Stuck in the station, when the duo tried reaching out to control room and on social media platform for help, but to no avail.

“After taking us to the police station, a number of traffic policemen ganged up and verbally abused us. When we wanted to complain, we were delayed to get a paper and pen for almost half an hour and were forced to sit in the station for an hour and were let off after the sub-inspector of the station intervened.  But, again to our utter disappointment, the SI, who took both the complaints didn’t provide us with the acknowledgement and asked to wait for the call,” Nitin lamented.  When DC reported the matter to DCP traffic (East), Chandrashekhar Baba said, “I will look into the matter personally and will see that no unjust is done.”

Are cops going overboard? Even sober motorists target

In an another incident of traffic cops charging sober motorists with drunken driving, a city motorist was allegedly harassed and abused y the traffic cops on November 27 in Yeshwanthpur police station limits.

According to Santana Davis, a media professional, who took to social media platform Facebook alleged that one of his staff members by name Babu was allegedly harassed and abused on Novemebr 27 by traffic cops around 11.30 pm while returning from work.

The complaint read, “One of our staff Babu was returning home from an event when he was caught by traffic cops attached to Yeshwanthpur traffic police station. When he was asked to undergo a breathalyzer test, it showed 400, but he had not even consumed a drop of liquor. After learning about the incident, I immediately rushed to the spot and seeing the press sticker on my car, the situation changed. I belong to Professional Press and that really helped me to tackle this issue.”

“I took each one of the cops to the task and they finally succumbed to their own scam of faulty & tampered meters,” said Davis in his post. In another incident, a driver belonging to a forest officer was allegedly abused, harassed and assaulted by night duty cops in Malleswaram on December 12. Though there was no formal complaint made in this regard however, the video in which the cops are seen thrashing the man went viral on net.

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