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None above law

When a senior journalist posted a photo on Twitter of two policemen riding a motorcycle near Parliament House without a…

None above law

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)

When a senior journalist posted a photo on Twitter of two policemen riding a motorcycle near Parliament House without a helmet, he came under political crossfire. His tweet read, “Two Delhi policemen outside Parliament breaking the law with impunity.” The scribe was trolled by a BJP supporter, who responded that he should mind his own business and concentrate on teaching his children.

The Delhi Traffic Police Twitter handle responded, saying the date and time should have been mentioned so that action could be taken. But this is not a stray incident. Flouting of traffic rules by policemen happens very frequently. Instead of trying to shield them, traffic police should issue a directive that traffic laws are for everybody. But who will bell the cat?

In other words, who will make the policemen realise that they should set an example by observing the traffic rules, which are the same for everybody. How can the policemen be allowed to get away with riding a motorcycle without a helmet?

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Lack of humanity

Travelling in a Metro can get quite tedious during peak hours for the best of us. For senior citizens, women with children and pregnant ladies, even non-peak hours can be tiring. The Delhi Metro authorities, on their part, have reserved some seats for needy people, with requests to offer their seats to them. However, at times humanity appears to take a back-seat, a colleague recounted. Travelling in a crowded Metro, on her way to Rajouri Garden, our colleague, who was standing in the aisle, saw a young pregnant lady board the train at Karol Bagh. She looked tired and was carrying a heavy bag. The lady was sweating profusely and looked for a place to sit but hesitated to ask for it. However, none of the passengers, including women, budged even though they noticed the lady’s condition. It was quite some time later before she managed to get a seat. Seething with anger, our colleague rued the growing lack of humanity among people today.

Scanner on blink

With its huge footfall, the Delhi Metro is surely vulnerable and one welcomes the tight security in its premises. However, there are chinks in the armour that need to be set right, a colleague felt, voicing her concern at a recent incident. Entering a Metro station the other day, she saw a huge queue at the entry gate. The reason was that the baggage scanning machine was not working and hence the passengers’ bags were being checked manually.

Apart from frisking passengers with the metal detector racket their bags were checked by the male and female officers respectively. Though the officers were trying their level best to check each bag the long queues did not let them to do so. They were seen checking the bags in hurry, resulting in improper checking. Our colleague wondered whether this could be a security lapse as improper inspection of bags could put the public in danger.

Other commuters too noticed this and several of them felt in the event of such a break-down, the baggage scanning machines should be instantly restored. Surely, a technical person can be posted at certain stations and could be instantly sent out to repair the machine. It is after all a public service, she pointed out.

 

Tailpiece

Overheard: With the World Cup having ended, people’s attention has shifted to another battle arena ~ Parliament!

 

 

 

Contributed by: R V Smith, Hasrat Sandhu, Abhijeet Anand, Bhavya Agarwal, Tanya Ghosh and Asha Ramachandran

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