Bengaluru couple fined for walking on road after 11 pm; 2 Cops suspended

The couple apologised for not being aware of such a rule, but the police refused to let them go and demanded 3,000 as a penalty.

Bengaluru, Dec 11: A Bengaluru couple was on Thursday allegedly harassed by policemen who forced them to pay Rs 1,000 for 'breaking the law' by walking on the street after 11 pm, which they said wasn't allowed.

The victim Karthik took to Twitter to narrate his ordeal and tagged the Bengaluru police, asking if this was a form of "terrorism."

"I would like to share a traumatic incident my wife and I encountered the night before. It was around 12:30 midnight. My wife and I were walking back home after attending a friend's cake-cutting ceremony (We live in a society behind Manyata Tech park)," Patri said in a series of tweets.

"We were a few metres away from our entrance gate when a pink Hoysala patrol van stopped by us. Two men in police uniforms asked us to show our ID cards. We were taken aback. Why should an adult couple walking on the street on a normal day be asked to show their ID cards?," he said.

"Anyway, we had nothing on us except our phones and a box of cake. Luckily, we had photos of our Aadhar cards. We promptly showed them to them. To our surprise, they took our phones away and started quizzing us about our relationship,place of work,parental details,etc," he added.

"Though a bit shaken, we answered their questions politely. At this point, one of them took out what looked like a challan book and started noting down our names and Aadhaar numbers. Sensing trouble, we asked why we were being issued a challan," tweeted Patri.

The cops, however, replied saying they were not allowed to "roam on the road after 11pm". When the duo asked if there was any such rule, the cops said that 'literate people" like them should know such rules.

"We apologised for being ignorant about the rule and assured them of not venturing out at night again. We thought we were over it, but it was as if the two men were waiting for this moment. They refused to let us go and demanded Rs 3,000 as penalty. Our hearts sunk." added Patri.

"I agreed to pay Rs 1,000 and get done with it. The man immediately held up a PayTM QR code, waited for me to scan it and make the payment, and let us ago with a stern warning: "If I and my wife are ever seen walking on road at midnight, they would register a strong case against us and ensure that we keep circling around the court." We couldn't sleep that night or focus on work the next day. The whole incident has left a deep scar on our minds. It has shaken our faith in the law-enforcement agencies," he said.

Following the incident, the Bengaluru police took stern action and suspended two police officers for allegedly extorting money form the couple early this week.