The True Face Of TamilNadu Police!

This post is a sequel to one of my previous posts, A FIGHT FROM THE SIDE OF DHARMA.

We waited and waited, but the Asst.Commissioner of Nungambakkam never took any action.

The team of Police who went to our mansion seem to have got their job satisfaction just by making a few calls to Mr.Narayanan and making statements like, "What the hell, this guy doesn't pick up the calls?"

Anwar called me up and said, "It is disheartening to see, you guys who did nothing staying away from the mansion and these buggers, after all the crooked things they did, are roaming here nonchalantly."

It irritated me. So, the Asst.Commissioner won't take any action against the mansion owner. Nor will there be any action against the Police Inspector nor the Sub-Inspector for ill-treating us.

When I went to the Commissioner's office to file a complaint against the Inspector and Sub-Inspector, I could very well see, from the reaction of the Inspectors who listen to the greivances, that the Police does not like a common man filing a compalint against the Police. A complaint against one Police official clearly disturbs every single Police official. Because their right to remain lazy and corrupted is at risk.

I and my brother decided to go back to the mansion. Many well wishers told me that I was taking a big risk. That we may be attacked by the mansion owner as I had complained against him and that the Police were also supporting them.

It was a week moment. I chanted Gayathri Manthra for very long. My mind cleared up.

The Inspector, Dr.Selvakumar, had stated that I and my brother had attacked the Mansion owner in the Deccan Chronicle. So now, they were trying to maintain that the mansion owner was innocent and it was me who attacked him and giving false complaints against the mansion owner and the Police officials. If they attack me now, they can't maintain their clean slate image.

I decided to go back. I felt like I was playing chess.

We went back to the mansion on the 21st of June, Sunday.

It kept nudging me inside that even after the Commissioner had ordered the Asst.Commissioner to take action, the Asst. Commissioner was happily sleeping about it. I wanted to take this to the notice of the Commissioner. I knew that this time if I go back the Inspectors, who hear to the grievances, will send me to the Asst.Commissioner and won't let the Commissioner know that his orders have not been carried out.

I wrote a letter to the Commissioner complaining about the contaminated water supply and about the mansion owner threatening the mansion in-mates, got it signed from ten of the mansion in-mates and sent my brother and another friend to file a complaint as though this complaint was a fresh one.

I told my brother, "Frist, you will have to tell your grievances to Inspectors. Talk to them only about the water problem. Don't tell them anything about the complaint lodged by me or about the Police. Once you get to meet the Commissioner, remind him of the compalint I made on 10th."

On the 26th of June, Friday, my brother and Bala went to the Commissioner's office and met him. The Commissioner had not forgotten about my complaint. He was annoyed at his junior.

He promised my brother that action will be taken by that evening. And yes, he kept up his word.

On the same day evening at about 6.30 pm, the Asst.Commissioner came to our Mansion. The Inspector, Dr.Selvakumar, accompanied him with a bundle of files.

I was in my room and heard the Police jeep honking. I came out to see Dr.Selvakumar standing there. The moment he saw me, I could see that he had recieved the blow. He put his eyes down for a second. But then, pretending to act as though nothing has happened, he asked me, "You are the one who complained about the water supply isn't it? The Asst. Commissioner has come. He wants to talk to you."

The first time I saw the Asst.Commissioner, I thought he was a true hero. But then, he proved me wrong. I also noticed that he was helplessly angry with me for making him come all the way to the mansion.

In the ground floor, all the mansion in-mates told the Asst.Commissioner that the water was not good. I told him, I had certificate from the TWAD Board. In spite of all this, he left me in the down floor, took only the mansion owner's son Magesh, and went to each and every door in the mansion and did the enquiry.

What kind of enquiry is this? I am the complainant. Magesh is the defendant. Either both should be left in the down floor. Or both should have been taken along. But he took only Magesh along with him. If the mansion in-mates see the mansion owner's son along with him, won't they hesitate to speak freely? Even then many in-mates had told him that the water was not good.

So he told the owner, in the most lenient way possible, to do soemthing about the water supply and got into his cab. I approached him and said about the incident on the 5th of July. He said, "talk about that to the Inspector" and turned his face away from me.

The Inspector intervened and took me along with him. He was so friendly. Trust me friends, for a second, I even felt bad for registering a complaint against him with The State human Rights Commission. But then, it doesn't take much time to realise that the dog's tail can never be straightened.

He asked me,"They cut your telephone wire, is it?"

"Yes sir"

"Did you pay your telephone bill?"

What brilliance! For a moment, I really couldn't understand whether he was joking or serious.

I said, "Sir, come on, if I didn't pay my bill, they'll disconnect my line. Why will they ever cut the wire?"

"Oh", Dr. Selvakumar decided to take this up further.

He came to my room and asked me to show the wire that was cut. He then sat in my chair and looked around. He asked about my computer and whether I had internet connection. He read a scribbling on the wall, "I cried when I had no shoes. But I stopped crying, when I saw a man without a leg." He relished in it's philosophy for a moment and then asked me if it was my thought. It was there even before I came to that room. I told him and he shook his head.

"The moment I enter into your room, I can say it is a bachelor's room. Why can't you fellows clean it up, once a while?"

And then after making some more legitimate questions like this, he got up and started to walk away.

"Sir, the owner has threatened me of my life? Why don't you take some action against him?"

"Come on man! Don't keep telling that. He is the one who is shaken on seeing you! If you want I'll call BSNL and tell them to give connection immediately"

I said, "That's okay sir, I'll take care!." He went off.

The very next day, Mr.Narayanan came up with a master plan to make my friends and me vacate the mansion. He issued notice to every room, stating that maintanence has to be done and hence every body must vacate the mansion on or before the 15th of July. He also mentioned in the notice that there will be no water supply till then, as the water was not good. And his plan worked out to some extent.

All in-mates rushed to him and enquired about his decision. He had told them, either all have to vacate the mansion or miscreants of rooms 3,5,8 and 11 must vacate the mansion before the 15th of July. They promised him that they will do anything to make the miscreants vacate the mansion.

Fifteen in-mates headed by Magesh, the owner's son went to the F5 Choolaimedu Police Station and complained that Anwar, Kumaresh, Bala, my brother and I must vacate the mansion immediately.

Anwar, Kumaresh and I went there. We refused to vacate the mansion.

A policeman, Mr. Venkatachalam, asked them the reason.

They said, "These people are creating problem saying that water is not good and hence the owner has decided not to provide water for all of us."

He questioned the owner's son, "Why are you not providing water for them?"

"We are cleaning up the tank, as per Asst.Commissioner's order."

"What about tomorrow?"

Magesh blinked for a second. "We will, Sir."

"Okay. Now look, making some one vacate or not vacate is not our job. You have to go to the court."

They dispersed. Mr.Narayanan's master plan was blasted.

I told about this to Mr.Shanmugavelu of Consumer Protection Cell. He told me to meet their Commissioner, Mr.Rajaraman I.A.S., in person.

Mr.Rajaraman expressed his commiseration for the state in which consumers are.

He said, "Your mansion owner has already refused to accept the registered post I sent him. I can file a case on him for that. I can also file a case on him since more than 100 consumers are affected by his poor services. On your side, file a case in the consumer court demanding a compensation of Rs.One Lakh. Let us teach him a proper lesson."

He also promised me that he will talk to the Police Commissioner on behalf of me. He also wrote a letter to the City Commissioner, gave it to me and asked me to meet him once again.

On the 1st July, I met the Commissioner and reminded him for the third time about the pitiful condition the mansion is in. I also reminded him about Mr.Narayanan's threatening and Police Offcial's illegitimate act. I came to know from the discussions that followed, the Asst.Commissioner had given a report stating that, except for thirty members, who are under my influence, all other's have told that the water is good.

I understood that if there is any superstition on earth, it is to have a belief that the Police Department is for the welfare of the public.

I told our advocate that we need to file a case on Naryanan, the threesome who accompanied him, the Inspector, the Sub-Inspector and the Asst.Commissioner on all sections possible.

Our Journalist friend adviced me not to bring in the Asst.Commissioner into this because if he is brought then he will have to protect not just himself but also his dutiful juniors.

On 16th July, 2009, we filed a case with the criminal court in Egmore on Mr.Narayanan, his son Magesh, the Inspector and the Sub-Inspector.

Meanwhile, on the 1st of July, a person from the Consumer Protection Cell had visited the mansion owner and handed him a letter from Mr.Rajaraman personally. The letter stated that if proper remedy is not done regarding the water supply a case will be filed with the consumer protection forum. If the later had not recieved it, the letter would have been stuck on the door of the mansion and on the door of the owner's house. So Mr.Narayanan received it this time.

On the third of July, I recieved a registered post from the Sanitary Inspector stating that the water provided in our mansion is potable along with a certificate from some testing lab which said that the fecal coliform count was zero. I informed about this to the consumer protection cell. They said that they will file a case against the Sanitary Inspector too.

On the 6th of July I met Rajesh Lakhoni, the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation and filed a complaint against the sanitary Inspector. He prmoised to take action.

An article about this was published in Junior Vikatan.

A couple of days later, we found that the hand pump from which we got metro water was damaged, leaving us no choice other than to use the water with fecal contamination. On the 7th of July, Anwar went to the Choolaimedu F5 Police Station and filed a complaint about it.

The sub-inspector T.Radhakrishnan, without knowing that Anwar had a voice recorder in his pocket, said that he can't do anything about it. He called us a big headache to the Police Department. He also disclosed that the mansion owner had taken a lawyer to the Police Station and threatened them, demanding that they make us vacate the mansion. If you know Tamil, Please listen to the confessions of a dutiful police officer. :)

Anyhow, he sent Mr.Venkatachalam to our mansion. He said to the later, just see, if you can do something about it, if not tell them to approach the court.

Venkatachalam came to our mansion and gave a demonstration of what an eye wash enquiry is. Anyhow, he too did not know that I was holding the voice recorder, all the time, in my hand.

You can listen to the enquiry(?!) here.

I thank sm, for giving me this brilliant idea.

Agni Sutar, a Tamil Police critic magazine is going to publish this issue in near future. It is run by a self appointed public interest litigator, Traffic Ramaswamy.

The Inspector Dr.Selvakumar had already been suspended for sending obscence messages to a lady police officer, last year. So he is popularly known as the SMS COP.

There are also a lot of allegations on Mr.T.Radhakrishnan and Mr. Venkatachalam.

There is also another happy news I like to share.

I wrote about this in my Tamil Blog, http://thirumbiparkiraen.blogspot.com.

I got a whopping response of close to 200 comments and 20 followersfor just that post. The support and encouragement the Tamil bloggers have offered is overwhelming. They have posted my article in various networking sites, gave links from their blogs, posted it on sites of Deputy Chief Minister and a Member of Legislative Assembly etc., I and my friends feel reassured.

We are yet to file a case with the Consumer Court.

Sequel to this and last post in this series of posts can be read by clicking here.