• I Paid A Bribe
• 11 years ago
• 3559 views

Today I was travelling from Chandigarh to Delhi in my personal car…

• Police
• Traffic Violations
• Paid INR 500

Today I was travelling from Chandigarh to Delhi in my personal car when I got stopped by traffic police near Sonipat chowk. It was a police Naka for traffic violations, however, to my surprise, the police officer (Naresh Kumar) mentioned that I was overspeeding (speed limit 90 kmph). I generally drive at 80kmph on highway and this time I was very sure that i was in my limit, hence I objected to the violation. He then changed his Charge to overloading the vehicle. I was carrying a foam sofa-cum-bed in the rear seat of my car, which was appropriately fitted in the backseat of my car with all doors closed. However this police office kept on insisting to issue me a challan of Rs. 5000 (yes ! Rupees Five thousand). Since i was travelling with my wife and young kid, and i got scared / puzzled with the prospects of having to travel to Sonipat courts etc to settle the challan, and the constant threat from police officer of challan issuance I paid the settled amount of Rs. 500 to him. However, later when i settled after this incident, I realized that I paid a bribe for NO OFFENCE of mine since i was travelling with just my home luggage and I don't think its such a big offence (to carry a punishment of Rs. 5000) and am now feeling cheated and looted by these gang of robbers (policemen) who are just standing on the highway to benefit out of public fear & ignorance of the law. I saw that there were 8-10 policemen with their senior officials as well who were just looting the people on highway.
Is there a way to check such misuse of power by these highly corrupt officials? Obviously, I am thinking myself to be more equipped & knowledgeable on law to deal better with these guys, however, I also fear that these people are nobody but rogues in uniform and it is very difficult and also risky to get entangled with such people for a common man like myself.