A friend of mine lost his cellphone and was required to file an FIR in order to get his SIM card blocked from mobile companies. Now, in India, once a mobile is lost, or any electronic item for that matter, is lost, it is gone for good. Surveillance or any other similar technical tactic used by Police in order to recover these items is virtually unheard of, especially here in Uttar Pradesh. The Police doesn't bother to find it, and being a tolerant nation that we are, generally the owner (now ex-owner) considers it lost and moves on. The maximum to be done is to get an FIR lodged and block the SIM to prevent any misuse of the phone. This is the maximum we expect out of our policemen- get us our FIR on time! Later I discovered, even this bare minimum task is very hard for our policemen to keep up with.
The event took place at Thana Talkatora , Rajajipuram, Lucknow. My friend n myself, entered the Police Station, partly in anticipation, partly in fear. This was our first visit to any Police Station. We enter a room and I found it to be exactly in consonance with the typical police station I had imagined. Two policemen eating gutka slouched on their chairs, chewing paan in a manner that somehow reminded me of a buffalo chewing the cud. One look at the corner of the wall, and it was clear where the pan masala went after they were through with it.
I asked him, trying to be polite, "Sir, my friend lost his phone and now he wants to file an FIR regarding this issue." For the reaction (or the lack of it) that I received, I could have been speaking to the pan-stained wall behind him. He pretended I didn't exist. I repeated my sentence, now in an increased volume. He glared at me as if I had committed some criminal offence, almost as if I had stolen my friend's cellphone. He finally replied in a slighting tone, "Pay me 100 bucks which will be used in making the affidavit and come the day after tomorrow to take the FIR copy or get it done from court yourself and give it to me." Now, I am a law student alright, but I wasn't aware of the intricate legal procedures yet, at the end of a year. I asked him weather this affidavit from court is necessary. He replied in a the typical policemen tone, "What do you think I am doing here? Just get it done and submit it here." I am a teenager, and not a very aggressive one, at that. His tone threatened me. Assuming that further curiosity may grant me some physical pain, I decided to give up. I was feeling helpless. It moved me. I felt a strong surge of anger at this part red-tapism and part indifference. So much for a simple FIR?
We came outside, slightly irked and did what we do whenever we are rendered helpless- we criticized. We wondered whether it is only the UP Police which is so easy-going about its duties or was it the same all over the country. It was sad for our nation as a whole. Now my friend had an uncle who was a policeman in UP in a different district. Moved by the mistreatment, I suggested him to ring him up and ask for suggestions. He called him up and reported to him the ill-behaviour we had just received. His uncle asked us to give him the mobile phone number of the Station Incharge, which is given outside every police station and asked to wait there. We followed the instructions and stood there waiting in anticipation for what was going to follow.
We didn't have wait for long. After about 2 minutes, a very changed policemen came to greet us - "Ohh!! Why didn't you tell us before that your uncle is a policeman." We were invited into his office, offered tea while the same man who dismissed us offhand wrote the application himself. All he required was the IMEI no. and address and the copy of the FIR was handed to us within seconds. He smiled his sycophantic smile and left us with this parting advice, "If you have any policeman in your family, whenever you are coming to a police station for any reason, its your responsibility to give your 'proper introduction' first. As we left the police station, my friend was rather pleased with what connections could do and I was stunned.
Later that night, in a pensive mood, when I replayed the incident in my head, I was slightly disturbed. Is this the way they are supposed to behave with the 'ordinary' man? We rely on them considering them to be people who enforce the law - who protect the citizens and have the duty to redress our day to day problems. Does a person who does not have 'proper' introduction to give not have the right to get his problem solved? This was just a little incident for an FIR for a misplaced SIM card. A merely procedural formality. I shuddered to think of what this inactivity would do to victims of crime who knocked their doors for justice. The problem suddenly felt really big, and I begun to realize the seriousness of the stories I had heard. After seeing this I feel a great sense of pity on the society and this state.
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