Lift To A Police Officer

This was a normal day till I met someone on my way back to home.

At 7 PM evening, I packed my bag and left for home. It was a long day in office like most of the days in the life of software engineer, but something positive was waiting for me on that day. I ride back to home on my two-wheeler as my home is just 5 km from office. I saw one person asking for lift near the sector 22 market and most of the people were ignoring him. I stopped by and he asked me if I can drop him to Rezang La Square where he was supposed to meet his colleagues. I agreed and we started off the journey.

He was a middle-aged policeman working with Gurgaon police since last 20 years. He asked me "why did you stop and give lift to me". At first instance, the question sound weird to me but then I remember number of instances where people take lift and then loot the rider. So, I told him that "you are in police uniform, so I trust you". These words shocked him as he told me that because of this uniform lot of people do not give him lift. He mentioned to carry the burden of negative image and most of the people do not give respect and does not honour their job. He was saddened by the fact that in our country soldiers posted at borders are given due respect but not the civil policemen. He mentioned that there are few reasons why policemen are not respected in our country:

• First is the history of corruption, misconduct, non-cooperation due to which people does not trust them. He mentions that people in uniform have a long history of corruption, misuse of power and bribe which creates an environment of non-trust and even hatred towards policemen.
• Secondly, it is a fact that things nearby are taken for granted than the things that are far off “Ghar ki murgi daal barabar (that’s how he mentioned it)”. He mentioned this as the main reason why soldiers are respected more than policemen as they live near people and citizens see them almost daily.
• Media/Bollywood: He mentions that our film industry has shown lot of negativity about police officers and people think that all of these are real. He mentioned that everything cannot be denied but not all can be accepted as well.

I agree with few of his points but I myself had terrible experiences at police station, so I told him that the issue is at the root level. Our policemen have never considered their duty with honour, so people are bound to take it that way. We see them taking even Rs.50/- in bribe with traffic defaulters which is so disrespectful. I narrated him an incidence of year 2004 when my bike was seized by police as I did not carry original documents. I agreed to my mistake and went home to bring the documents, when I returned I neither find my bike nor the policemen. Whole day I was roaming from one police station to other and finally I found the police officer in one of the police stations. I showed him the papers and requested him to accept the fine and release my bike. To my surprise my bike was not there, and he told me that I can take it in evening. When I went again in the evening, I saw my bike, but the meter reading was 30 kms more than what it was in morning. It means that they were roaming around on my bike all over the city. I was irritated but could not do anything. 

He laughed at this incidence and mentioned that this is something unfortunate, but things are more serious than these. He asked a question to me: Are you working in a government firm? I told him that I work for a private firm. He asked me “So you must be having a clean toilet, access to clean drinking water, good comfortable desk to work, a coffee machine, recreational activities, flexible working hours, favourable working environment and two days off in a week”. He mentioned that now days the working conditions at Indian police stations have really improved but it is still far from compared to private firms and in few remote areas it may be very hostile. But still policemen are expected to be highly proficient, should never complain and available 24*7. He continued by mentioning the issues when dealing with public, government officers, bureaucrats and above all human rights commissions. He tells me that police officers bear very high responsibility on their shoulders, but the margin of error is very less and if they make mistake then human right commission, media and even the citizens do not support them. But when the policemen are killed on their duty there is no human rights violation as they are bound to die for people. He asks me another eye-opening question to me. “Have you seen any parents motivating their children to become police officer?”. I was paused for few mins but was not able to remember even one friend whose parents motivated him to become police officer. He continued that most of the parents motivate their kids to become engineers, doctors, architects, pilots, even IAS and but not police officers. Few parents motivate their kids to become IPS but that is only handful. 

Lastly when I drop him, he says that time will come when people will realize how tough it is to be an Indian police officer. We exchanged smile, he said thanks to me, but I should be grateful to him. If army soldiers are responsible to protect us from neighbouring enemies then our policemen are responsible to protect us from internal enemies and maintain the civil decorum. Police system in our country has lot of accountability and responsibilities towards civilian and they are the law enforcement agency since decades. 

On my way back after dropping this policeman, I realized that they deserve love of the citizens and they are trying to earn it. Bribe is not always by force, it is also by choice. When we give bribe just to get away, we encourage a practice which is bound to affect our system negatively and make policemen habitual of it. Next time they will ask for it and we feel that they are corrupt. No system is perfect, people need to make it perfect. I don’t remember any member of my family member ever motivating their kids to join police forces which means that our families don’t even consider this as profession to look forward.

So next time if you see a police officer maintaining the traffic in heavy rains when you are inside your car, if you see policemen helping National disaster team rescue operations in flood affected areas, if you see police officers maintaining the civil decorum during Diwali, Eid, Holi when you are celebrating with families, if you see them putting their life to stake running after criminals to maintain law and order of the city, if you see them ensuring smooth elections, if you see them risking their life in communal riot affected area, then give them their due respect and smile.

Believe that there is another group of people in uniform who deserves our respect.

Note: The names mentioned above are fictitious, but incidences are inspired by true events.

Regards

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