- I Paid A Bribe
- 14 years ago
- 179 views
Hand held
- Police
- Traffic Violations
- Paid INR 100
I was driving towards Raheja Vihar coming from hiranandani, Powai. i had the mobile phone in my hand, but i was not on call, nor was i messaging.
i was stopped at the crossing by the traffic policeman. and asked for my license. i asked him what was wrong. he said, you were on call. i immediately showed him my call records. thankfully, last call from/to my mobile was more than 90 minutes before this, so there was no room for any debate there.
he then said, the phone should not be in your hand and that's why we will challan. promptly took out a tattered print out in marathi (i don't read or speak marathi, mea culpa) in which, the only words in English was "Hand held". since the phone was Held in my Hand, i was liable to be challaned. I offered him a 100 and moved out.
however the punch comes now: by law, if you are driving solo, your phone needs to be switched off. no exceptions. so i WAS in the wrong. but just wondering if there are many cities in the world which allow you to switch your phone on ONLY if there is someone else in the car.
found the regulation strange. but to be fair, by law, i was in the wrong... even though the policeman didn't know exactly what was the violation.