As much I feel ashamed writing about this particular incident, I feel the need of letting it out in public ,accepting my folly and feeling guilty about it.
I was driving back from Gurgaon after a cricket match, when a Traffic cop stopped me and asked me for papers of my car. On finding the papers to be complete, including a certain pollution check certificate which he desperately emphasized on for obvious reasons (that is one of the most common offence by car travelers), he started looking for other ways to book me for an offence.
What followed was a flurry of needless and non-sense questions like where I am coming from,where I work, what is a cricket kit lying at the backseat of my car doing there and so on.
His eyes landed up on the thin film, covering the two windows of my car (one rare and other left of the driver seat). Unfortunately, the film barely visible from a naked eye was not put up by me. For it was by a person from whom we had purchased the car a few days back. Obviously, this is not to justify that I was lazy in taking off the film however thin it was, post the blanket ban on films by Supreme Court.
He asked me to pay Rs 1000 as fine and take my RC back, I with a bit of reluctance and some pleading that followed gave him a thousand rupee note waiting for him to make the challan. Suddenly, what followed was a set of even more non-sense questions like whether I won the match I am coming from and so on ( I should have been a little smart to gauge where this conversation would go on from here)
He thereafter, took out a Rs500 note from his pocket and gave it away to me along with my RC and told me to go ahead.
Call it my stupidity, dishonesty or rush of blood to the head,that I didn't say a word and just walked away from there. Perhaps, I was a little baffled by what happened or perhaps I was too greedy to let go off those 500 rupees, whatever be the case I gave a bribe
It was only when I was back home and gave it a good though, did I feel the pinch of what crime I had committed. By not insisting on for a challan and taking away five hundred rupees , I had committed wrongs at multiple levels.
1. I gave a bribe, which was first such instance in my life.
2. I allowed the constable to walk away with Rs 500 of black money.
3. I further, encouraged him to haraas other citizens in future and demand bribe from them.
4. I robbed the Traffic Police of 1000 Rs, which would have made more sense than half of it landing up in a corrupt constable's pocket.
5. I committed a crime in first place due to my laziness and constant procrastination.
6. Had I insisted on a challan, and got one I would have also landed up with the name of constable, which could have been a starting point to lodge some sort of complaint against him.
Though, there isn't much I can do regarding this particular incidence, I surely can take a oath to not committ such a crime again, ever in my life! Whatever be the costs involved, whether Rs500 or Rs 5 crore.
And I hope God would forgive me for this almost unforgivable crime committed by a to be Civil Servant of the country and he would give me strength to over come any such temptations in future.
I was driving back from Gurgaon after a cricket match, when a Traffic cop stopped me and asked me for papers of my car. On finding the papers to be complete, including a certain pollution check certificate which he desperately emphasized on for obvious reasons (that is one of the most common offence by car travelers), he started looking for other ways to book me for an offence.
What followed was a flurry of needless and non-sense questions like where I am coming from,where I work, what is a cricket kit lying at the backseat of my car doing there and so on.
His eyes landed up on the thin film, covering the two windows of my car (one rare and other left of the driver seat). Unfortunately, the film barely visible from a naked eye was not put up by me. For it was by a person from whom we had purchased the car a few days back. Obviously, this is not to justify that I was lazy in taking off the film however thin it was, post the blanket ban on films by Supreme Court.
He asked me to pay Rs 1000 as fine and take my RC back, I with a bit of reluctance and some pleading that followed gave him a thousand rupee note waiting for him to make the challan. Suddenly, what followed was a set of even more non-sense questions like whether I won the match I am coming from and so on ( I should have been a little smart to gauge where this conversation would go on from here)
He thereafter, took out a Rs500 note from his pocket and gave it away to me along with my RC and told me to go ahead.
Call it my stupidity, dishonesty or rush of blood to the head,that I didn't say a word and just walked away from there. Perhaps, I was a little baffled by what happened or perhaps I was too greedy to let go off those 500 rupees, whatever be the case I gave a bribe
It was only when I was back home and gave it a good though, did I feel the pinch of what crime I had committed. By not insisting on for a challan and taking away five hundred rupees , I had committed wrongs at multiple levels.
1. I gave a bribe, which was first such instance in my life.
2. I allowed the constable to walk away with Rs 500 of black money.
3. I further, encouraged him to haraas other citizens in future and demand bribe from them.
4. I robbed the Traffic Police of 1000 Rs, which would have made more sense than half of it landing up in a corrupt constable's pocket.
5. I committed a crime in first place due to my laziness and constant procrastination.
6. Had I insisted on a challan, and got one I would have also landed up with the name of constable, which could have been a starting point to lodge some sort of complaint against him.
Though, there isn't much I can do regarding this particular incidence, I surely can take a oath to not committ such a crime again, ever in my life! Whatever be the costs involved, whether Rs500 or Rs 5 crore.
And I hope God would forgive me for this almost unforgivable crime committed by a to be Civil Servant of the country and he would give me strength to over come any such temptations in future.
