"One night at the police station......"

Hello all readers and welcome back to my blog where I share few of the exciting incidents that occur in my life, so here we go! Another incident and another blog related to it.

A few days ago, I had just finished my dinner and I stepped out of my house to go meet my friend who stays right below my floor, he and I discuss a few things about life before we sleep and that has been a habit for us from the past few weeks, it is now around 10 at night, we took a stroll to the end of the road and my dear friend has an habit of smoking before he is done for the day and so he removed a pack of cigarettes and lit one in front of my eyes and as usual we started having the usual conversation about life. We came across a guy who panicked and walked briskly in the main road which we were facing, we did not pay a heed to him as we assumed he might be in a hurry or must be in a rush. 

Whilst the cigarette came to meet its end, a Hoysala (Karnakata police patrolling vehicle) passed in the main road ahead of us, my friend tried to hide his cigarette as Karnataka police would penalize him for smoking in public, but the police vehicle did not stop in front of us, they went away and after they left, the guy who had panicked enters our street.

An auto driver standing at the corner of the street warned that the police are here and he began walking even quicker, after taking a few steps, a guy comes and drives him off in his two wheeler.

We casually saw all this and we started walking towards our house as we are not a part of the chaos that is happening in other guy’s life, the Hoysala enters our street, and stops next to us, both of us stood at two different sides of the vehicle. 

Alarmingly the police asked us to get into the vehicle, initially we denied, we asked why should we be getting into the vehicle, the police got down, opened the door and asked us to get into the vehicle. We insisted that we shall not do it as we are not guilty of any crime, they started shouting at us and threatening us that the consequences that we face later on shall be dire, giving in, we got into the car, helpless and cold, our hearts in our throat!

“Sir we do not have our masks on” we stated, to which the SI replied, “You shall get everything at the station.”

 We told them that we haven’t done anything,

“We saw you both helping that guy run away, he is a murder accused! You have helped him and therefore both of you are accused too!”

We were not able to understand what he just said, murder? Us? Even if it was something that we had to do to save ourselves, I doubt both of us would get our hands stained in such a heinous crime.

“But sir, we live just here, if you want, we can show us our vehicles and the document related to it” we justified as we passed right in front of our house.

“Shut up!! We know who you both are and you are answerable only in the police station” said the SI.

My dear friend kept telling that he works for a news channel, to which neither of the police in the car paid a heed.

As soon as we arrive in the police station, the SI ordered a constable to snatch away our phones and make us stand inside, which was executed quick. While we walked to the designated room, we constantly kept begging the police that we had to make a phone call since our parents will be worried as it was very late by now, I presume it was around 11 at night, And our requests were as usually denied.

It was a room at the end of the police station, we were taken there and our names were noted down first, the room had other people in it, 3 women and a lot of men, the presence of women at that time of the night certainly raised our eyebrows, as far as I know, women should not be present in a police station after 6PM in the absence of another police personnel, but this was not as tense compared to what was happening to us at the moment.

The SI started talking loudly to a guy there, who was bought to the station on our similar grounds, the SI then started warning him that he shall be beaten up now if he doesn’t shut up! 

We were petrified to even talk to the SI, but once he left the room, we requested the constable present there to hand over our phones so that we can convey someone that we are at the police station, the constable started shouting at us too, we were once again silenced.

Another ten minutes passed by in utmost horror, a guy who looked like he was around 18-19 years old was bought into the hall, his shirt was torn and full of stains even before he came in, the sight was horrifying, as soon as he was bought in, all the police authorities started questioning him about something, one of them even kicked him! He might be a rowdy, but how the police were treating people at the police station was absolutely inhumane.

Few other people in the police station started demanding their cell phones, continuously telling that were innocent, the police were not even ready to listen to any of us, if they lost their cool, they would pick up a cricket bat lying at a corner and threaten to hit us, our freedom of speech was silenced by a cricket bat lying at the corner of the police station that had silently witnessed these assaults.

Few more minutes passed by and we stood at one corner of the police station without uttering a word, the SI who took us in came in and asked us to come out, we wore our footwear and stood next to another cop.

On keen observation, his name badge was visible and I clearly remember memorizing his name, he took our addresses and asked us what our educational qualifications were,

“Sir I’m an MBA graduate” I replied, the cop turned his head towards my friend, he said “sir I’m a degree dropout”

“First go back to your native and think of completing your education instead of loitering on the streets at night” the police ranted.

He might be holding a respectable position with regards to his job, but disrespecting another person’s job is unacceptable, my dear friend continues to work today for a reputable channel.

Two sheets of paper were handed to us and they asked us to sign it, we questioned them what it was, they asked us to literally shut up and sign the papers, while my friend started signing it, I quickly gave it a read, it clearly mentioned that we shall arrive to the police station on a mentioned date at mentioned time otherwise the police can take any action on us, the date and time column were empty, it looked like we were allowing them legally to harass us further in life, we silently signed these sheets, took our cellphones and walked out of the station.

File image 

Source: unsplash 

A few minutes later, our friends arrive and somehow the false allegations on us were cleared within a few minutes.

The sole purpose of me writing this blog is to raise a voice against all such harassments that have remained untold, they might be the ones protecting us, but they should not be the ones that scare us and harass us. I could imagine someone guilty being framed of crimes, I could imagine people with different abilities struggling inside that hall, only if I could hear those walls speak! The next few hours of mental trauma was unbearable, today this might sound funny, but I do not wish for anyone to go through what I witnessed that night.

Most of them remain silent when such things happen, I myself haven’t narrated this to my parents, I run a blog and I narrate this horrifying experience, but who is listening to others? Let’s put an end to this disrespect given by them. I have immense respect to the job they do, but shouldn’t they be careful while doing so, not every person on the road is a criminal and I want to say this to every other cop that I see in my life.