‘Not Allowed on Road After 11pm’: Bengaluru Couple Harassed, Fined by Cops for Walking at Night

Two police officers in Bengaluru were suspended for allegedly extorting money from a couple, who were walking back home late an night early this week. The entire incident came to fore when Karthik Patri took to Twitter to share his ordeal and tagged the Bengaluru police, asking if this was a form “terrorism”.  The police, however, were quick to respond, confirming the two cops were identified and suspended.

“I would like to share a traumatic incident my wife and I encountered the night before. It was around 12:30 midnight. My wife and I were walking back home after attending a friend’s cake-cutting ceremony (We live in a society behind Manyata Tech park),” was the first of a 15-part tweet by Parti, narrating the entire incident.

Patri said when they were a few metres away from their society’s gate, a patrol van stropped beside them and two cops in uniform, demanded to see their IDs. “We were taken aback. Why should an adult couple walking on the street on a normal day be asked to show their ID cards?” wrote Patri.

Even after both of them showed their IDs, the cops took away their phones and started “quizzing” about their relationship, place of work, parental details and other information.

“Though a bit shaken, we answered their questions politely. At this point, one of them took out what looked like a challan book and started noting down our names and Aadhaar numbers. Sensing trouble, we asked why we were being issued a challan,” tweeted Patri.

The cops, however, replied saying they were not allowed to “roam on the road after 11pm”. When the duo asked if there was any such rule, the cops said that ‘literate people” like them should know such rules.

“We apologised for being ignorant about the rule and assured them of not venturing out at night again. We thought we were over it, but it was as if the two men were waiting for this moment. They refused to let us go and demanded Rs 3,000 as penalty. Our hearts sunk.” added Patri.

The man wrote that the more pleaded with the cops, the harsher they became. They even showed the two pictures of convicts and threatened them with dire consequences.

Later, when the two agreed to pay Rs 1,000, one of the cops immediately held up a PayTM QR code and waited for them to scan and make the payment.

After leaving the spot, Patri tagged Bangalore Police and wrote: “My humble questions to the Bengaluru City Police @BlrCityPolice: Is this not terrorism, is this not legalized torture? Is this how honest, low-abiding citizens of this land are meant to be treated?”

Soon after the tweet, Anoop A Shetty, DCP North East, responded to Patri’s message and wrote: “Thank you for bringing it to our notice. They will be identified and stern action will be taken against them. We also request others to DM us in such cases.”

Two police personnel responsible for the incident have been identified, suspended and a departmental action has been initiated. “Bengalore City Police will not tolerate deviant behaviour from its staff,” Tweeted the city police.