The Bengaluru police have a straightforward piece of advice for the residents of India’s IT capital: please file an FIR or alert the authorities first before resorting to social media to report incidents of road rage, fake accidents, or hooliganism.
The police have been urging people that in the event of such incidents, rather than heading home, tagging individuals, and posting on social media to raise an alarm, the priority should be given to filing a complaint at the earliest.
“On doing so, the police will be able to act on the complaint immediately, investigate, and book the offender. It would also help us take away one more offender off the streets and keep Bengaluru as safe as possible,” B Dayananda, Bengaluru police commissioner, told News18.
“Call us on 112 in case of an incident and our men will be on the way in less than seven minutes. Investigations get affected when the victim does not inform the police in time or do not come forward to record their statement,” Dayanand explained. He also pointed out that an incident is raised on social media sometimes hours later or even days.
“The police officials end up spending more time in tracing the victim though his social media than tracing the actual culprit,” the official explained.
He added that people should by all means use the social media to spread awareness so that they can be alerted, but emphasised that they do so after informing the police of their incident.
“Crucial time is lost in the initial stages of the incident which could help in apprehending the criminals on time. We insist that priority should be given to call the emergency number immediately for the police to swing into action,” he added.
People do have the option of posting on social media but only after informing the police, said the commissioner, adding that the victim can later decide to lodge a police complaint at the station to take it to the logical end.
“We have been constantly advising people to also invest in a dash camera as technology has played a significant role in helping the police identify the attackers and put them behind bars.”
This advice comes in the background of numerous cases where Bengalureans took to social media to share their distressing experiences on the road rather than put out messages on online platforms.
In a recent incident, PR professional Aashish Bansal took to X, formerly Twitter, to recount an unsettling incident. He wrote that unidentified individuals purportedly hurled a cement block at the vehicle he was travelling in along with a friend on the NICE corridor that rings around a major part of the city.
Cautioning that it could have been an attempt to forcibly stop their vehicle with the intent of robbery, Bansal went on to say that they chose not to halt the car. He also observed another cement block on the road a fraction of a second before their own vehicle was targeted, suggesting that a similar modus operandi might have been employed against another vehicle before theirs was chosen as the next target.
“In response to this, we contacted Mr Bansal to get more details and urged him to file an FIR on the incident so that it can be investigated,” said a police official of Bengaluru South.
Another case was shared by Srijan R Shetty, who recounted an incident that took place on November 8 where his wife’s car was chased by a group of men for a few kilometres near Sarjapur Road.
“On 8th November, my wife offered to drop off her colleagues (2 females, one male), considering it was hard to get a cab from Sarjapur,” Shetty wrote, adding that his wife was alert and smart enough not to stop until she reached the main road and informed the police on patrol. The hooligans allegedly demanded that the occupants of the car step out of the car, but the ordeal continued when the vehicle was attacked by a few tempo drivers.
“I’ve never felt unsafe in Bangalore – I know my privilege of being a Kannada-speaking male – but last Thursday night I felt how unsafe certain parts of the city are post 10 pm. I’ve seen those horrific videos of fake accidents in Sarjapur where hooligans have tried to blackmail people in the car,” the user wrote.
Dayananda said that the police department is sympathetic to the victims of such road rage, but pointed out that investigations get affected when victims do not come forward to record their complaints.
“How do we take the case forward if an official complaint is not even lodged with our department? Whatever complaints that we receive, we register cases, investigate, and apprehend the criminals. But a section of people want to become social media heroes and expect the police to act upon it. That is not right,” the commissioner added.
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