Ushoshi Sengupta, a model and former Miss India, was returning from a shooting assignment from JW Marriot in an Apps cab. I too was incidentally on the way, after a family dinner at Royal Bengal and saw the Uber cab racing away, chased by many two-wheelers, many with 3 riders, but not one with a helmet, as prescribed by law. They may have targeted the lady much before the place of incident as described, near Exide crossing near Park Circus area.
All the arrested are from a particular community, and young men barely crossed their teens. The boys apparently beat up the Uber driver, and as the lady came out in support of the driver, she was molested too. She ran to the nearby Police stations, each one claiming that the place of occurrence was out of their jurisdiction, forcing her to post her travails on the Facebook, which went viral and prompting the police to sweep into action and arrest six culprits who were all from the minority community.
Young boys driving without helmets is a show of defiance against the establishment, their flouting of traffic rules in Park Circus area is from the fact that the government has instructed the police to turn a blind eye over such trivialities. Topsia is a no-go area for the cops unless a crime of severe nature takes place and comes to light. I had factory, relatively a large one, which I had to hive-off due to the increased threat from the locals. I never regretted the decision.
The fundamental problem of the youth is that they have no education or have no interest in going through formal schooling. The boys are all happy to become political cadres and bike-gangs available at the beck and call of their bosses, enjoying a fixed earning, the rest which they manage to get by way of extortion and subscriptions. This has sizably increased in the last 6-7 years.
Until the education policy changes and the youth are forced to study, the problem can never be eliminated. Most these days are drivers, security guards and of course, Civic Police, thanks to the kind secular government!
Be that as it may, I would suggest that the OC of the Police stations who had refused to file a complaint in the middle of the night for a lady in distress be suspended. There must be a suitable law amendment, of filing any complaint or FIRs in any PS, regardless of the place of incidence, which the Kolkata Police HQ could pass on to the concerned Police Station’s jurisdiction soon after.
Such bike gangs should be curtailed, if necessary, by restricting the number of riders in a two-wheeler to just one, unless there is a proper justification to carry a pillion rider between 10 pm and 5am. Racing bikes on Ma flyover is a common sight, and summary confiscation of the two-wheelers have to be done, cases filed.
No solution can be found, if the policemen following the rulebook are soon overridden by the political bosses to release the culprits, as is always done. A Uniform Criminal code does exist, but only on paper, which can throw some light on which way the Uniform Civil Code could be implemented, if passed as a law in future.
Sad! Kolkata is shamed!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
