One-way campaign increases investigation police’s burden, bribery

Citizens complain that arresting violators, ‘treating them like criminals’ is unacceptable

KARACHI: The special campaign against one-way violators, which was launched jointly by the traffic police and the operation police on Friday, has increased the burden on the investigation police in the form of more cases. Apart from the increased load, however, the latter are also allegedly taking advantage of the campaign by taking bribes from violators.

The investigation police are said to be collecting bribes from violators in exchange for wrapping up the cases registered against them under Section 279 of the Pakistan Penal Code. These bribes reportedly range between Rs30,000 to Rs50,000, depending on the post of the involved police official - the higher the post, the larger the bribe.

The investigation police are reportedly solely responsible for dealing with all the aspects of the violators’ cases in the campaign, including the release of arrested citizens and return of seized vehicles, along with other legal procedures. Arrested citizens have been directed to only be present in court during the hearings.

At least 384 citizens have been arrested since the campaign was launched under the orders of Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon, while 363 cases have been registered. Police stations have reportedly been crowded with the relatives of the arrested violators.

Citizens, meanwhile, expressed their grievances regarding the campaign, appealing to senior officials to take notice of wrongdoings and to stop the arrests of violators immediately.

“Launching the campaign against this offence is justifiable, but arresting violators and registering cases against them instead of giving them challans is not acceptable in any way,” said a violator. “We accept that the violation is an offence, but this doesn’t mean that a common respectable citizen is locked up and made to face proceedings like a criminal.”

Another citizen claimed that the self-respect of people is being hurt in this campaign. He suggested that imposing heavy penalties and fines could keep people from repeatedly violating traffic laws, adding that the traffic police should launch awareness campaigns in colleges and universities instead of just putting up banners on roadsides.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2020.