Babu vs. Police Babus

This next incident is something that happened to me on Sunday.

As I was peacefully driving my car, humming a tune, and letting my thoughts float back to a better time, I was rudely brought back to the present when an autorickshaw rammed into the back of my car. Rude words were forestalled by the auto driver immediately admitting that it was his fault and that his brakes had failed.

I knew there was no way that the auto driver would have enough money to pay for the damage to my car and realized that the only solution was to file an insurance claim. So I piled said poor apologetic auto driver into my badly damaged but still functioning car and drove to the nearest police station to file a traffic accident report (TAR).

On getting there, the police were very polite while they took down my version of the event in beautiful Marathi long hand. They inspected the car and I was told that I could leave and collect a copy of the report the next day.

I got a call a little later from the police station where a cop informed me that I need to come back in. Apparently, the accident had taken place just outside their jurisdiction, and by filing the report in their station, I had increased their workload by 100%. I apologized but the cop told me that a mere apology would not suffice. I was morally outraged. Was I hearing right? Were they asking me for a bribe? I tell you there is no honour among babus.

A little later, I got another call. This time from the driver's friend. He was complete distraught. The police had arrested the driver and were threatening to impound the rickshaw unless he agreed to pay 1000 rupees. This sum was too large for the auto driver to bear but neither could he afford the loss of 2-3 days earnings if his vehicle was impounded.

I tell you there is still a shred of humanity in this babu's heart. I decided to go to the police station to sort out the mess about the wrong jurisdiction and at the very least to get the hapless auto driver released.

There I was treated to a refresher course in police bureaucracy. With respect to the wrong jurisdiction, I suggested to the police that they could simply ignore my report and I would file it in the correct police station. This was obviously unacceptable to them, which they laughingly made clear. Apparently, they had already done all the hardwork of putting pen to paper and I had interrupted their siestas, increased their workload, and performed other such attrocities.

When I asked about the auto driver, they informed me that they had to show that they had taken action. So either the auto driver had to admit that he was driving recklessly and pay a fine for that (or a bribe to avert the fine), or have his auto impounded until a mechanic from the RTO came to determine if the auto's brakes had really failed. And the mechanic would arrive in 2-3 and guess what he is a babu too.

The auto driver realized that he was truly caught between the devil and the deep sea, and deciding that he preferred a known devil (apologies for mixing my metaphors), he had left to get the 1000 rupees. Ok, so at least the cops did not have him locked up any more.

My conscience lightened, I left for home contemplating how I would get a copy of the TAR from the police babus without paying them a bribe, and how I would then deal with the babus in the insurance company.