Police Stations.

The police station. Scene of many-a-scene in the movies. Not always pretty scenes. Not always scenes that'll make you laugh and appreciate the beauty of life. No one likes police stations. They're dark and dingy and barren. In India, a police station is where the most criminal action takes place. The typical Indian police station is located in a crumbling building, which always looks too small to be impressive. There are paan stains all over the walls. The place smells of smoke. When you enter, you get venomous stares from the men in khaki, that read 'Disturb me today and I shall make your life hell.' Aye, police stations ain't for the faint hearted.

But I had to go there anyway. Something about a verification for getting a new passport made. I get my number and am told I'll have to wait for about an hour. Fair enough - if there aren't people wanting passports in Juhu, which is full of phoren-loving Gujjus, where will there be? When my turn does come, the police officer is very courteous and polite. He explains what needs to be done and then asks me for the required documentation. So far, so good. I'm very impressed with the system so far. My first trip to a police station isn't going to end up with me in lock-up after all. In the middle of all this, there's a large commotion outside and we hear some very juicy hindi gaalis. Apparently, there's been a fracas between some women and they're both brought to the police station and told to shut up before a policeman takes charge.

This is when things begin to get interesting. One of the women, accompanied by a mild-looking husband and a young boy, had a huge swollen eye and it was apparent that someone had beat her up bad. On the other side were two women and a little kid. Cursing, swearing, abusing, crying women in a police station. After being told to shut up repeatedly by the policemen (this is the right place to point out that there were only policemen; only one policewoman showed her face during the whole incident, and that too once) they told their respective sides of the story to the authorities and it seemed to all of us onlookers that the matter was being resolved the way it should be. So far, so good. But a while later, when two of them were ordered to enter the lock-up, all hell broke loose. The cursing and crying reached new highs in terms of volume and while one woman eventually conceded, the other held out.

What happened next was APPALLING. A policeman hit her FOUR time across her face and shoved her into the lock up. There were atleast SEVEN other authority figures watching impassively. No slightest expression of surprise. Forms were being filled, coffee being drunk, cash being handled all too loosely. All of which points to the fact that this is a NORMAL happening.

That doesn't reflect too well on society, does it? One woman went in with a swollen eye and two came out in that condition. The extreme lack of policewomen didn't help either and male ego showed it's ugly face. When this is the kind of treatment you get at a police station, why would you go there for justice in the first place? Even more shocking is the indifference of the onlookers. I tried saying something, but I was told to shut up and let the police do their job. Like this? Really?

I anticipate a lot of pessimistic, this-is-the-way-things-are, what-can-we-do type comments to this post. To them, I would like to say that I only wrote this because the experience shook me quite a bit. I'm only 18 and I'm not used to this. It may be commonplace but I don't think it's right. And I refuse to accept that nothing can be done about it.