BENGALURU: “I want to drop my wife at her parents’ house as we are constantly having fights at home. Please give me a pass.” The police were taken aback when they got this request. This was not all. Another Bengalurean with a band aid on his finger was riding a scooter. When stopped, he said he was going for a dialysis. From bizarre excuses for passes to trying to bluff their way when caught, the citizens are trying every trick and the police are finding it amusing.
It’s lockdown time and now the state government has imposed Section 144 in most parts of the state, but still many are seen on roads and have an excuse for it also. Police department officials state that citizens come up with the ‘lamest’ of all reasons to be on the roads and get a pass. The reasons are so many and so interesting that the department is planning to compile all of them and put them on social media. Of the 44 lakh applications for passes the department had received, most of them had said that they wanted a pass so that they could get ration home, which is an essential commodity.
Many also said they wanted to have a pass so that they can get medicines from the pharmacist. But what has caught the attention of most police officials is this: “A man had visited Banaswadi police station and wanted a pass or a letter that he could drop his wife to his inlaws’ home. He had said that they were having too many fights and the wife wanted to be with her parents and the husband was unable to manage the situation at his home. We did not find this as a reason enough to give him a pass. He then asked us, if we could give him a letter which he could show at check points and drive through,” sources in the police department told TNIE.
In another case, a man was found on a bike with two women at Sahakaranagar and when he was questioned, he said he had a pass to get ration supplies. When the police questioned him for going triples, the man said that he needed help to carry the sacks.
“There was another case, where a man had a band aid on his hand riding a scooter and said that he was going to the hospital for dialysis. It was difficult for us to believe, so we offered to take him in the police vehicle, but he man denied and zoomed back,” said a police official from Sarjapur Road.
Director General of Police Praveen Sood told TNIE that people do come up with lame excuses to get access or passes. Most of them apply for passes and seek access to get rations and medicines. While some are genuine, many are not, he said.