In a shocking incident a couple in Bengaluru was allegedly 'threatened' and 'harassed' by police officials for walking on a street past midnight. The incident came to the fore after Karthik Patri, who was forced to pay Rs 1,000 through payment gateway application Paytm for 'breaking the law', shared his plight on Twitter.In a series of tweets, Karthik narrated his ordeal, and sought the help of the authorities after sharing that a simple walk near their home from a friend's birthday celebration amounted to 'breaking the law'. Subsequently, a Bengaluru Police official took note of the incident and initiated a probe. The accused constable and head constable of the Sampigehalli Police Station were suspended for imposing a fine on the couple.
In a Twitter thread of 15 tweets, the Bengaluru resident wrote, "I would like to share a traumatic incident my wife and I encountered the night before. It was around 12:30 midnight." Two police personnel in Bengaluru who allegedly extorted a couple, in the name of patrolling, were suspended on Sunday. The department also initiated further action against the two after the Twitter complaint went viral and said that such behaviour will not be tolerated. A post on the official handle of Bengaluru Police read, “Two police personnel from @sampigehallips responsible for the incident have been identified, suspended and departmental action initiated. @BlrCityPolice will not tolerate deviant behavior from its staff.”
According to Patri, the couple showed their Aadhaar cards that were saved on their mobile phones. “To our surprise, they took our phones away and started quizzing us about our relationship, place of work, parental details, etc. 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,” he tweeted. The two police personnel then said that they are not allowed to roam on the road after 11pm and demanded Rs. 3,000 as penalty, said Patri. “We apologized 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 ₹3,000 as penalty. Our hearts sunk,” read another tweet. Patri also said that they were threatened to be arrested if the demanded amount was not paid. He added, “They showed us pictures of convicts and threatened us of dire consequences if we didn’t pay up. I could barely hold my nerve, while my wife was in tears. The man in the driving seat took me aside and advised that I pay a minimum amount to avoid further trouble.” Patri also claimed that he had paid ₹1,000 through a Paytm scanner. “I agreed to pay ₹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 go with a stern warning,” added Karthik Patri.