Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Safety drive or fleecing tool?

Marri Ram

The ambitious programme of checking drunken driving has now become a tool for extorting money

HYDERABAD: What started as a drive in the interest of people is turning out to be a device to fleece them, thanks to some policemen in the State capital.

The ambitious programme of checking drunken driving, launched to reduce road accident deaths, has now become a tool for extorting money by lower level policemen.

The law stipulates that the driver should be subjected to a breath analyser test, if the checking team suspects that the driver is drunk. However, in most of the cases, they are now found to scare the drivers by threatening to take them to hospital for conducting tests. Their claim is that the breath analysers are not working.

Motorists returning from parties would naturally try to `convince' the policemen to spare them from the embarrassment of being sent to hospital. Taking advantage of the situation, policemen collect money and let them off.

If the breath analyser gives a positive result, police are required to detain the vehicle and register a case under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act. The vehicle is to be released only after the driver pays the fine imposed by the court.

Faced with the prospect of the vehicle being seized, the motorists sometimes convince the police to let them go, albeit after a challan is issued to them. In such instances, police invoke Section 184 of the MV Act under which penalty is imposed for dangerous driving. Under this section, the vehicle need not be detained. A little `discretion' on the part of the policemen is beneficial for both.

A few weeks ago, the Karkhana police registered a case of drunken driving against a youngster. For next two days when the youth called up the policeman to find out in which court he should pay the fine, the latter demanded that money should be paid to him first. The confused youngster approached the station authorities.

To his shock, he found that the constable already paid the penalty in the court and was demanding the penalty amount plus some more money for `extending the help.' There are many complaints about such malpractices.

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