No Ram-rajya that cops won’t accept bribes, says High Court
Court not satisfied with ACB ‘clean chit’ to traffic police in graft allegations
Bombay High Court on Wednesday embarrassed the Mumbai Traffic police by observing that there is no ‘Ram-rajya’ in the city that no police officials would accept bribes. The HC has asked the Joint Commissioner of Traffic police to file a detailed affidavit spelling out the action initiated against officials who are accused of corruption.
The Division Bench presided over by Justice Rajendra Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav heard a criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a former constable – Sunil Toke. He has dragged the traffic department to the court for allegedly indulging in various corrupt practices to collect money through illegal means. The petition states the rampant corruption in the department is causing loss of crores of rupees to the state government.
The Bench was informed that the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) had conducted a thorough enquiry into these allegations and have concluded that ‘no offence could be made’ against any of the police officer.
After perusing the report, Justice Savant said, “We are not satisfied with this report. There is no Ram-rajya here that no police official would accept any bribe. The confidence of the citizens is at stake and some strict measures are needed to be undertaken.”
Terming the reports as mere ‘eyewash’ Justice Jadhav said, “These reports are only eyewash and nothing else and this is not very surprising for us. And we can say all this, as we ourselves have experienced such things.”
The judges also pointed out the manner in which traffic cops deal with motorists irrespective of their gender, age or background.
Posting the matter for further hearing after two weeks, the judges said, “There must be a mechanism in place to ensure that action is taken against corrupt officers. In our view, more proactive measures are to be undertaken to ensure that motorists are not harassed and there is a curb on the demand and acceptance of bribe.”
Accordingly, the judges directed Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), to file a detailed affidavit stating the steps that are taken in this regard. The affidavit also has to state the measures undertaken to ensure that pedestrians are not met to inconvenience by allowing illegal parking in no parking zones.