Thiruvananthapuram: Sports bike owners allege police harass due to flimsy reasons

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While accidents caused on Museum-Vellayambalam stretch by bikers often hit the headlines, riders of certain brands of performance bikes claim abuse by city cops. Many agree to have breaking speed limits often, but they claim persecution even when they do not break any rules. “I own an Austrian company’s bike which gets stopped at every second police checking point. Once, a policeman attached to Museum station kept a hand near my engine and asked where I was coming. I said Pattom and he booked me for speeding telling my engine was too hotter than it would get during a short ride,” said Vishnu

Das, a rider who added that performance bike gets overheated in traffic. As per Arun Babu, another performance rider, arguments with a police officer would cause big troubles. “I was caught with no pollution certificate. I did not have money to pay, and cops told that I would have to collect the court challan from the police station. They made me sit in a police vehicle. A civil police officer with no helmet on his head rode my bike to the station. I questioned him for not wearing a helmet and that created scene.

Finally, I was released only after my brother came and secured station bail,” he said. When quizzed, police officials said even in the absence of speed radar they can use their discretion for booking speeding vehicles. “Often these sports bike riders are intercepted based on wireless messages from other junctions over their speed. As everyone knows that the accidents caused by them are too many,” an official added.