- I Paid A Bribe
- 14 years ago
- 151 views
Paid bribe to escape "court/jail time"
- Police
- Traffic Violations
- Paid INR 20
I was riding my scooter to the airport to see my cousin for one last time. She was flying from Mumbai, ********** Airport to the US. I got late and I had never driven to the airport before that day. I wasn't aware that there are a lot of one-way streets and with so much traffic and it being rush hour (every hour in mumbai is rush hour anyway), it was very confusing.
I was almost entering a one-way zone when I saw the stop sign and promptly stopped my scooter and started turning around. A traffic cop and his "buddies" were standing there. He asked me to pull over near him and told me I entered a one-way. I argued saying I hadn't because I had stopped. He took the keys of the scooter and marched to the chowki. I had to push my scooter there and park it.
Once inside, there was a senior traffic cop too who asked about my offence. They had obviously rehearsed all this before. They asked me to pay up with Rs. 100 or come to court in a few days to claim my scooter keys. Fearing the worst, I said I had only 20 or so. The cop said " Jitna hain de do " meaning give me whatever you have.
I paid the money and left very angry. It was only Rs.20 but I still felt humiliated and wronged. I never had any traffic violation before. I felt very insulted and I was robbed in daylight. It's been 8 years since that incident, but I still feel the anger.
In retrospect, I feel I should not have paid. But with the fear of getting involved in anything police-related, I ended up paying.
I have vowed to never pay a bribe again.