“Noise Pollution complaint? Go to the Bombay High Court”!Allwyn Fernandes 02 May 2011, 12:17 PM IST Forty years ago when I first accompanied a friend to a police station to report adulteration of milk, we ended up being treated as criminals rather than complainants. How much have Mumbai’s police stations changed since then? Not much, I am afraid. The externals may have changed in that some police station buildings are better designed and better built, like the one at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), or the one at Powai in the swanky Hiranandani Gardens area. But attitudes inside remain the same as they were 40 years ago. The men seated at their desks inside still need to be trained to understand that they are there to enforce the law without fear or favour and that it is their duty to register complaints from law-abiding citizens. Happily, I found a woman police office on duty at the entrance to the Powai police station more understanding and positive. She agreed wholeheartedly with me that my complaint had substance and directed me to the desk officer. That’s where I ran into a blank wall. I had gone there on April 23 to draw the attention of the police officer on duty to the possibility of firing of crackers at Easter Services at my local church after 10 p.m. that evening. This is a nefarious practice that had somehow developed over the years. Crackers have no role to play in Christian religious services. I tried reason, persuasion, everything. But to no avail. Then in 2008, I decided to use the law to file a complaint against my parish priest under the Environmental Protection Act. The act makes the firing of crackers after 10 p.m. a non-bailable offence . But filing an FIR is not an easy task. The local police would not act! They told me, “Christians are such good people. We have least trouble with them when we do bandobust duty.” I said I was there to report a violation of the law, not canonize anyone. They would not budge. So, I approached higher-ups, including the police commissioner and the then State Home Secretary, Chandra Iyengar. They issued the necessary directives. Even then I ran into difficulties. But, finally, the priest was summoned to the police station to answer my charges that he had violated the law. He was taken aback that a member of his community would haul him before the law. He wept, begged for mercy, vowed never to do it again. But I was not willing to relent at that stage. In any case, the firing of crackers stopped at Christmas and the next Easter services. But it was resumed in December 2010! So, back I went to the Powai police again on April 23 to tell the officer on duty that he should warn the parish priest that should even one cracker be fired, he would have to spend the night in jail. I was directed to the duty officer in charge of the bandobust. He seemed most indifferent. He took an inordinately long time to read what I had written, then told me to "go to the High Court". I told him I did not need his advice on what I should do. I wanted him to accept my letter and give me an acknowledgement. I would insist on it. And I would be at the church service to observe any infringement of the law. And I would come back to insist on an FIR if even one cracker was fired. “You can be sure of seeing me again,” I told him. He still wanted to know what I wanted him to do. I said: warn the parish priest before the service that he would be held responsible if even one cracker was fired. I see no reason why those already asleep, young or old, should be disturbed because we are celebrating a feast. He told me: "We don’t accept such letters. Go to the high court". I told him he had to give me an acknowledgement and I expected him to act on the issues raised in the letter and that he could be sure I would come back again if even one cracker was fired. All along, he kept me standing. He did not have the courtesy of offering me a seat as a senior citizen. Not that I needed it. I am still fighting fit. After another five minutes he said he would have to consult his boss. He came back a changed man within five minutes! The boss had been pulled up by the Bombay High Court a year ago for failing to act on a complaint of noise pollution by an IIT professor against a nearby temple. The law is the same for all. So the boss man must have told him to take the complaint seriously. What a change in the officer now! He offered me a seat. He called a constable and told him to get an acknowledgment. He told the constable sitting at the computer to take down a letter to the Parish Priest warning him he would be held responsible for any crackers. He called the head constable going for bandobust duty at the church....the machinery had been set in motion. By then the acknowledgement came and I left. Needless to add, no crackers were fired that night! But why do citizens have to face such hurdles to get the law enforced? Clearly, police officers on duty need a lot more awareness and education about their duties towards citizens and the law they are sworn to uphold
