They say "Change is the only constant" but I guess "Police" is one of those resilient institutions which have braved this demon fervidly. They have such archaic and repressive ways of functioning that sometimes its hard to believe that Delhi Police has a Facebook presence! there are practices which look logical on the surface but the rot becomes visible when you dig deeper.
To file an FIR is an ordeal in itself. But the chain of events that inspired me to do so is worth a read as well.
In the movie "Tring de basanti" Ameer Khan said, "Cycle chalane ke do hi tarike hote hain. Ek, jo hoot kar raha hai, use karne do, bardasht karte jao. Ya fir, zimmedari uthao usko sabak sikhane ki". (there are only two ways to cycle. One, turn a deaf ear to hooting or else retaliate !). On that fateful day I chose the 'Ameer Khan' way which landed me into a scuffle!
Without going into its details and blow my own trumpet here, It's sufficient to say that I managed, with the help of the crowd, to get out of the altercation with only scratches on my knee and elbow despite their number. (Actually, they cheated me, initially they were 2 but they called 4 more guys when one of them got his shoulder dislocated! oops..did i blow my own trumpet here !! :P)
when I approached a Nursing Home for a dressing in the Salman Khan avatar (yeh, my t-shirt was martyred!), their first question was "how did it happen?". I couldn't lie and THEY REFUSED TO ATTEND TO ME WITHOUT AN FIR!
Now, why the hell do you need an FIR to do a simple dressing. What difference would that make? Fortunately, I had only bruises but what if, I was seriously hurt and bleeding profusely? would they still wait for an FIR and destine me to bleed to death??
I wasn't that hurt that I couldn't cycle and therefore I continued with the plan of night-out at my friend's place. but all along the way, i was in a dilemma - to lodge an FIR or NOT !
Pros: that is the right thing to do.
Cons: I didn't know anything about them (not even their car no.), the FIR would hardly result into anything substantial, there are higher chances of me getting implicated for causing physical damage to them !! ;)
You obviously know which thought won this duel and I found myself in the Police Station, Mayur Vihar. Their opening remarks: "this place (where the incident happened) doesn't come in our area. YOU HAVE TO REGISTER THE FIR IN THE POLICE STATION OF THAT AREA." It sounded to me like, " it seems like u have been quite lucky in getting out of the mess, u shd have given some opportunity to those guys to break something in your body as well. No issues, it's never too late. Do it now.".
Isn't is ridiculous and utterly insane to go into the same area where 6 mad dogs might be vying for your flesh which they missed out at first? Why can't they register my FIR and transfer it to the respective police station so that it can save the complainant from the hassles of finding the right police station and ending up in a hospital instead in the process!
But, I agreed to that as well, provided they give me an escort. They 'politely' refused this request citing the reason - "what will happen if a MURDER happens in our area?". I almost cracked up at that. Who says police can't be funny!!
However they agreed to escort me till the "Crime Scene" which helped me to trace my specs!
So my friends, in the end -
I couldn't file an FIR !
Got a hole drilled into my pocket by a Doctor who billed me 400 bucks for a simple dressing!! (That did hurt me!)
Got my specs back after 3 days from a 'Momo'walla who was given their custody by an 'Auto'walla !
(HAPPY ENDING !)
To file an FIR is an ordeal in itself. But the chain of events that inspired me to do so is worth a read as well.
In the movie "Tring de basanti" Ameer Khan said, "Cycle chalane ke do hi tarike hote hain. Ek, jo hoot kar raha hai, use karne do, bardasht karte jao. Ya fir, zimmedari uthao usko sabak sikhane ki". (there are only two ways to cycle. One, turn a deaf ear to hooting or else retaliate !). On that fateful day I chose the 'Ameer Khan' way which landed me into a scuffle!
Without going into its details and blow my own trumpet here, It's sufficient to say that I managed, with the help of the crowd, to get out of the altercation with only scratches on my knee and elbow despite their number. (Actually, they cheated me, initially they were 2 but they called 4 more guys when one of them got his shoulder dislocated! oops..did i blow my own trumpet here !! :P)
when I approached a Nursing Home for a dressing in the Salman Khan avatar (yeh, my t-shirt was martyred!), their first question was "how did it happen?". I couldn't lie and THEY REFUSED TO ATTEND TO ME WITHOUT AN FIR!
Now, why the hell do you need an FIR to do a simple dressing. What difference would that make? Fortunately, I had only bruises but what if, I was seriously hurt and bleeding profusely? would they still wait for an FIR and destine me to bleed to death??
I wasn't that hurt that I couldn't cycle and therefore I continued with the plan of night-out at my friend's place. but all along the way, i was in a dilemma - to lodge an FIR or NOT !
Pros: that is the right thing to do.
Cons: I didn't know anything about them (not even their car no.), the FIR would hardly result into anything substantial, there are higher chances of me getting implicated for causing physical damage to them !! ;)
You obviously know which thought won this duel and I found myself in the Police Station, Mayur Vihar. Their opening remarks: "this place (where the incident happened) doesn't come in our area. YOU HAVE TO REGISTER THE FIR IN THE POLICE STATION OF THAT AREA." It sounded to me like, " it seems like u have been quite lucky in getting out of the mess, u shd have given some opportunity to those guys to break something in your body as well. No issues, it's never too late. Do it now.".
Isn't is ridiculous and utterly insane to go into the same area where 6 mad dogs might be vying for your flesh which they missed out at first? Why can't they register my FIR and transfer it to the respective police station so that it can save the complainant from the hassles of finding the right police station and ending up in a hospital instead in the process!
But, I agreed to that as well, provided they give me an escort. They 'politely' refused this request citing the reason - "what will happen if a MURDER happens in our area?". I almost cracked up at that. Who says police can't be funny!!
However they agreed to escort me till the "Crime Scene" which helped me to trace my specs!
So my friends, in the end -
I couldn't file an FIR !
Got a hole drilled into my pocket by a Doctor who billed me 400 bucks for a simple dressing!! (That did hurt me!)
Got my specs back after 3 days from a 'Momo'walla who was given their custody by an 'Auto'walla !
(HAPPY ENDING !)
