Corruption by those manning roads has returned to haunt the police force after a youth alleged that a home guard among the police team at the Colva junction threatened to extort money from him and eventually directed him to GPay the challan amount at a nearby wine shop. The youth had to be penalised for not having a pollution certificate for his two-wheeler, but not through a payment gateway outside the domain of the road transport department.
Police informed that a preliminary inquiry had been initiated, and a head constable was suspended after the wine dealer gave his statement to the police during the day. It remains to be seen how the probe unfolds and how soon the suspended personnel will return to his old ways, like the many others in the police force.
The incident is not the first of its kind. Several allegations have been levelled in the past about personnel on road enforcement, including police officers, for extorting money from motorists by using private GPay numbers of nearby shop owners and establishments.
If we may recall, the home guards posted at Colva were involved in another similar case in January this year, with the victim submitting a copy of his complaint to even the DGP. There was a case in Agasaim and another at the border. Nothing moved in the earlier cases, and G-pay continues to be the gateway for extortion.
Suspension of personnel is usually carried out to ease pressure on the department, and such action cannot be seen as a deterrent towards acts of extortion and blackmail against the public. The reluctance to probe deeper has eroded the image of the entire force and created a trust deficit with the general public. If the police are looking at rebuilding public confidence, then the leadership will have to take cases of corruption and extortion to their logical conclusion.
Holding motorists to ransom, instilling fear, extorting money and causing loss to the State exchequer are serious crimes that deserve to be treated seriously. These cannot be treated differently because of the involvement of policemen, and suspension cannot be the end-point.
If the police have become synonymous with corruption, it is because of the failure of the leadership to crack the whip. Inaction, or attempts to find loopholes in the transaction and conceal these crimes through dubious tricks of the trade, only throw suspicion of a larger involvement, and that does not bode well for anyone who talks about zero tolerance against corruption. Plus, it puts a cloud of doubt over even upright personnel.
The amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act prescribe higher penalties for violators, aiming to reduce the rate of accidents and make roads safer.
The police appear to be leveraging the change and making a fast buck in the guise of road safety. The DGP must step up action and instil discipline; otherwise, those policing roads and the officers they are connected to will turn road policing into a lucrative money-spinning venture.
