Traffic Police, You and the Indian Penal Code!

This article is for all our biker boys and riding mania heroes who keep complaining of being harassed by traffic policemen.

It is evening time (well…most of the times). You are returning home after having had a tough day in office/college. Or maybe you are out on a ride with friends. And lo! Just as you reach close to the traffic signal, the man in uniform stops you. You start wondering what went wrong.

In case you are riding: You tap your head to check if the helmet is on, and turn behind to count the number of pillion riders!

In case you are driving: You check if you have been caught for talking over the mobile phone while driving (girlfriends, wives, moms and bosses never wait for you to get back home/office to ‘discuss stuff’), you check for the seat belt, and of late you also check if your car has tainted glasses!

In either case, after assuring yourself that there is no way in which you can be made a ‘victim of your circumstances’, you park your vehicle and look at the traffic police personnel with utter humility (and an unknowing frown). Then starts the uber-melodious conversation which ends up with a melodramatic ‘tere baap ka raaj hai kya?’

We shall now classify the problems that can hereafter arise into two categories:

A. When the traffic police personnel (public servant) is at fault.

B. When you are at fault (the probability of this is umpteen times higher than the first option!).

• The public servant has no right to hurl abuses at you (Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength!).
• It is not right for them to display their might at you or your vehicle (that does not mean you are justified in escaping from the scene).
• Never give your documents to officers whose identity is not known.
• An important issue arises when the public servant while preparing a document or record does so in a manner which he knows to be incorrect so that he can wrongfully use it against you. In such cases, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by virtue of Section 167 provides you with a relief. The public servant doing so shall be punished with:

–          Imprisonment which may extend to three years; or

–          Fine; or

–          Both.

• If a public servant tries to take gratification from you, he shall be liable to be punished as per the provisions contained in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

• Whatever mistakes we have discussed in the beginning, if you have not committed either of those and also have in your immediate possession your driving license and other documents pertaining to your vehicle ownership and registration, then you are less likely to be handed over the much-dreaded receipt.
• You are legally bound to produce your documents to the public servant, and if you intentionally omit to do so thinking ‘Traffic SP mere chacha hain!’ then in such cases you are liable to be punished as per Section 175 of the IPC. Punishment:

–          Simple imprisonment which may extend to one month; or

–          Fine which may extend to five hundred rupees; or

–          Both.

• If you refuse to answer any question demanded of you by the public servant then you are liable to be punished as per Section 179 of the IPC as you are legally bound to answer these questions. Punishment:

–          Simple imprisonment which may extend to six months; or

–          Fine which may extend to thousand rupees; or

–          Both.

• If you voluntarily obstruct any public servant in the discharge of his public functions then you shall be punished in accordance with Section 186 of the Indian Penal Code. To constitute ‘obstruction’, it is not necessary that there should be actual criminal force, a mere show of force or threat is enough. Punishment:

–          Imprisonment which may extend to three months; or

–          Fine which may extend to five hundred rupees; or

–          Both.

• If you cause menace which would have a tendency to induce the public servant to alter his action then you shall be punished as per Section 189 of the IPC. Punishment:

–          Imprisonment which may extend to two years; or

–          Fine; or

–          Both.

• If you drive your vehicle, or ride, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, you shall be punished as per Section 279 of the IPC. Punishment:

–          Imprisonment which may extend to six months; or

–          Fine which may extend to one thousand rupees; or

–          Both.

If you expect peace and public tranquility, you must be a law-abiding citizen and support the public servants in carrying out their duties. This you must do not out of fear but volition. Might (or the show of it) is not always right!