Never bang into a cab in Gurgaon!

Accident victims allege that local police is in league with cab owners and often overlooks traffic violations by drivers

Never bang into a cab in Gurgaon!

Accident victims allege that local police is in league with cab owners and often overlooks traffic violations by drivers
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If by any unfortunate chance you get involved in a mishap with a call centre cab while driving in Gurgaon and your vehicle is badly damaged, it's better to negotiate compensation on the spot than to try and follow the rule of law. That will prevent you from getting harassed for it has been alleged that the cops are in league with these cab drivers and often overlook the traffic violations by them.

Hard hit:u00a0The cab driver had hit two cars while trying to rush through a
traffic signal. Pic/MiD Day

At least that is what one can conclude if one goes by the experience of two motorists who met with an accident while driving in Gurgaon on March 19. "I was driving towards MG Road on my way back from office in Augusta Point, when I stopped at the signal next to Janpratinidhi apartments. As the light turned green, I started to move and had hardly travelled 30-40 yards, when a Toyota Innova cab (HR556T3641) came speedingu00a0 by and in an attempt to rush through the signal, first hit a Maruti Swift car (HR26AD3213) and then my car on the right damaging both the doors. The impact was so huge that besides doors of my car, the tyre of other car was completely damaged," said Neeraj Rajput, one of the victims of the mishap.

However his ordeal didn't end there. He and the other car driver then dialled 100 to seek police help, but of no avail. "For about 25 minutes, we kept dialling 100 but it simply didn't connect. Then we noticed a signboard in the middle of the road that had local police station's number. I dialled it and finally three policemen arrived at the scene.

After completing their formalities, the cops asked us to settle the matter through compromise with the cab owner's representative. We agreed but the cab agency refused to pay the entire amount we said will be needed to make the repairs. What was worse, as we went to police station, we noticed that police too had begun to take the side of cab driver after the representative of cab agency came and spoke to the officers there. We insisted that a proper procedure be followed and our complaints be registered to enable us to get the compensation but the cops laughed it away saying that if prosecuted, the driver will get away with just a fine Rs 1000," said Neeraj.

"We were then made to write our complaints separately on a plain paper. Though the SI refused to receive our complaints initially, on our insistence, he gave us the photocopies of our complaints as receipts. However, he purposefully got the name of the person to whom it was addressed (SHO with address) and my phone number removed from the photocopy he had given us.u00a0

I kept pleading with him to give me a non-altered copy but he refused. The SI even asked me why I had mentioned in my complaint that we had brought the cab driver to the police station as he had fled from the spot. I was shocked to hear this as we had caught the driver from the spot and had handed him over to the police," said Neeraj.u00a0 Police however said that they had taken a proper action. "We have registered the case. Now the matter is in the court," said a senior police official posted at sector 29 police station.

'We will act'
When asked about steps being taken to tackle such menace, DCP (traffic) Gurgaon Bharti Arora, said, "I am not aware about this particular case but we will take prompt action and go by law. Yes, road accident and rash driving are major problems as very few get prosecuted. There have been cases where passengers have died in road accidents but the offenders walk away with just fines of a few thousand rupees. At our end we try to help the victim and take strict action against the offender," said Bharti Arora DCP traffic.

Too many loopholes
Traffic experts claim that apart from police apathy, various loopholes in the law too help cab drivers to virtually get away with murder. "Each cab agency owner maintains a fleet of 100-200 cabs. Every cab does several trips that are time bound. Most of the drivers are young,u00a0u00a0 so they drive really fast. They are aware of the fact that their owners, who are well-connected, will help them get out of the situation. That boosts their arrogance and they become rude and non-sensitive to road traffic," said Shailesh Sinha, director of traffic portal 'The Traffic People'.

Law allows compensation
According to lawyers dealing with motor accident cases, one can get full compensation but for that he/she will have to wait for at least six months. "Our accident law is very old and the amount of fine is too low which encourages these drivers to indulge in rash driving. One can get just six months imprisonment and fine of Rs 1000 or both. Normally, everyone tries to avoid going to court but if one does, one can get his/her money. Police hesitate to register the cases as that reflects in crime statistics," said lawyer Mukesh Kumar.
So if you want to get your money back through court-
*u00a0Dial 100 and inform the police.
*u00a0Click the picture of accident site.
*u00a0In case someone is injured, tell the doctor it was accident as heu00a0 records patient
history.
*u00a0Lodge an FIR.
*u00a0Get your insurance claim and take mechanical inspection certificate.
* One can also claim the amount that he/she had to spend on the repairs of the vehicle after accident, the depreciation value that your vehicle will incur and even the amount that you might have spent on transport while your vehicle was under repair.