All over Mumbai, it is fairly common to see groups of traffic policemen near major traffic signals and sometimes a distance away from smaller signals stopping cars and two-wheelers for various reasons.

Many people have also experienced when these cops threaten to suspend your driving license and make you waste 15 days running to the court or the local police station to get it back. Some have even been threatened with ridiculous fines in the form of false accusations such as PUC not done, not wearing a seat belt, talking on the phone, etc., when none of this was true. They bluntly tell you that it is their word against yours, and you will never win. In majority of these cases, the traffic cop has behaved rudely and arrogantly, knowing fully well that we the citizens have zero power or time to complain against them. Hence, they detain us, threaten us, and make us shell out money. The law currently allows them to falsely accuse us and harass us. 

If you stand at a distance and watch them, only a fraction of the vehicles they stop are actually fined and given a challan. If you talk to taxi drivers, you hear of even more atrocities. I personally witnessed the brazenness of traffic cops, and the impunity with which they were extorting money from citizens. When I decided to do something about it, the cop threatened my family and me, took my contact details, and warned me of dire consequences.

On June 11, 2016, my family and I were going back home after consulting a senior doctor at Hinduja Hospital in Mahim for my father's illness. Our OLA cab passed through a yellow signal along with 4-5 other cars. However, the cop only stopped us. He wasted 10 minutes arguing with the driver, and we could clearly see the driver putting a Rs. 100 note in the cop's notebook. I took a picture, but the cop unfortunately saw me and came running over. Then all hell broke lose. He started threatening and abusing us, took my contact details, and forced me to delete the picture. He then took the driver out, returned his money, suspended his driving license, and told him to spend the next 15 days going to the police station to try and get it back.

A thorough research of the Mumbai RTO website shows there is hardly any recourse for citizens. Emails sent to the following email addresses bounced back:

• TransportGrievance@mahatranscom.in
• jcptraffic@mumbai.maharashtra.gov.in
• jcptraffic@trafficpolicemumbai.org

A complaint sent at commissioner@mahatranscom.in resulted in an automated email thanking me for visiting the website and advising me not to drink and drive.

I have the name, badge number and the motorcycle number of this cop, but I have been told by everyone that without actual proof in the form of a video of the cop taking the bribe, nothing will ever happen. How is it possible to take a video of a cop harassing you, insulting you or threatening you?

I believe a change is necessary. If we, as law-abiding and tax-paying citizens are not safe from the very police force that is supposed to safeguard us, what kind of a world are we living in? How can a measly traffic constable have so much power? And why can't Mumbaiites do anything about it?

I appeal to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra (Shri. Devendra Fadnavis), Transport Minister Maharashtra State (Shri. Diwakar Raote), Transport Commissioner Maharashtra State (Shri. Shyam Wardhane), and the RTO to do something and stop this menace. These so-called public servants are worse than chain-snatchers and pickpockets. They are openly abusing their powers, and we the citizens, are helpless to stop them.

A few simple solutions can go a long way in solving this problem:

1. Give each cop a booklet of current laws and their applicable fines in multiple languages, and make it compulsory that this booklet is shown to the alleged traffic law breaker. This will prevent cops from exaggerating the punishment / fines.
2. Share with citizens what a cop can or cannot do. E.g. if a driver is stopped for breaking a signal, can a constable demand to see his PUC?
3. Give us a mechanism where we can argue on the spot if we think the cop is being unfair. Nobody is going to go to the courts or run after senior RTO officials for Rs. 100.
4. Train the cops in how to behave and talk in public. A public servant has no right to abuse, insult or threaten the public.
5. Give us a transparent mechanism where we can complain against errant cops, offering us complete anonymity and safety, and ensuring our complaints are dealt with swiftly and justly.
6. If citizens are fined Rs. 100 to break a law, a guardian of the law should be penalized 100 times more to ensure they don't break the law themselves.

PM Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat is an excellent example of a clean India endeavour. But cleaning the country superficially is not enough. We need to clean the menace of bribes, breaking of laws by law-keepers themselves, and citizens being threatened by the very police that is supposed to safeguard them.