• I Paid A Bribe
• 14 years ago
• 1144 views

A Very Considerate System of the Punjab Police

• Police
• Traffic Violations
• Paid INR 500

We were travelling as a family from Gurgaon to Kasauli by road in our personal Qualis, which had a luggage rack on top with our luggage. We travelled through Haryana without any incident. As soon as we entered Punjab, we were stopped by a traffic cop, who said we were violating some rule which says private cars cannot have luggage racks on top! The usual negotiations (leave license and RC behind, come to court or else, please take a fine, cannot take a fine, please take cash instead) took place and we settled for Rs. 200, of course without any receipt. I then asked that since I have paid once, how would I avoid being asked to pay again? The cop considarately wrote a Gurmukhi alphabet on the back of my driver's hand. We were stopped twice more, and each time I showed the alphabet written on the driver's hand, and we were waved off without further demand.

It is a different story that we had to pay Rs 500 on our way back. When I asked why did the rate go up, the Punjab police cop sheepishly said - "Diwali ka time hai na!"