Dude! where's my bike??

Well this post is a result of sheer disappointment of mine over the law enforcement agency aka. the Police. A couple of days back my roommates motorbike, a Bajaj 200cc,was stolen from the passage of out rented apartment at around 2100 hrs. We rushed to the Police station as soon as we realized that the vehicle was gone. We rode to the Police station at 2200hrs, ofcourse in my bike. Just as I was parking my bike near the PS gate, a patrol car just stopped behind us. Without wasting much time, Vinnie rushed towards the jeep and told the officer sitting inside that the bike was stolen.

Police jeep driver: Wo kiski hai? (pointing my bike)...andar daalo nahi to wo bhi gayab ho jaegi.. (Who's bike is that? park it inside, or else that'll be gone as well)...

*I gave the driver a dirty look.*

The officer asked us to go inside and write a complaint. Here's the conversation that we had over with another Police officer sitting inside writing down the details.

Vinnie: Sir, bike chori ho gayi hai FIR karwana hai. (Officer, My bike is stolen, I need to lodge an FIR)

Officer 1: Kaha se chori hua hai? (From where?)

Vinnie: Ghar se, BL343 Ground Floor me rehte hai hum. (from home, we live at BL343 ground floor)

Officer 1: Kitne baje ki baat hai? (What time did this happen?)

Vinnie: Yahi..kuch 10-10:30 pm ke aas pas. (sometime around 10-10:30 pm)

Officer 1: Bike bahar road par rakh-ke ghar ke andar baithe hue the... bike chori nahi hogi to aur kya hoga? (your bike was stolen coz you left it outside on the road and were sitting inside your house)

Me : nahi sir, bike to andar hi rakhi hui thi. Wo andar se utha le gaya!! (No sir, the bike was inside the premises, he stole it from there itself)

Officer 1: Tum kaun ho? (Who are you?)

Me: Main Vinnie ka roommate hu? (I am Vinnie's roommate)

Officer 1: Tum kaha the us time? (where were you when this happened?)

Me: Main bhi ghar par hi tha. (I was at home too)

Officer 1: Matlab tum log PG me rehte ho? (that means you guys live as Paying Guests?)

Me : PG nahi apartment rent pe liya hai. (not a PG, we rented the apartment)
Officer 1: Ye saari chori ki cases ye PG waalon ke sath hi kyu hota hai, yaha localites ka toh bohot kam hi kuch chori hota hai?? Majra kya hai? (Why does most of the theft cases come from people living as paying guests? Theft cases from the localites are very less?)

Me: wo, actually tenants ko landlord garage nahi dete yaha. To humein bahar passage mein rakhna padta hai.. isiliye. (Actually tenants are not provided garage out here, so we have to keep our vehicles outside in the passage.)

Officer 1: Arey gaadi sambhal nahi paate ho to kharid te kyu ho? (Why do you get vehiles when you aren't able to take care of them?) Hum kya gaadiyon ko pehra dete rahen raat bhar? (Should we be safegurading your vehicles at night?) Paisa bohut hai tum logo ke paas barbaad karne ko (You guys have loads of money to waste) Kya karte ho tumlog? Kya pdhai kar rahe ho? (What do you guys do? What are you studying?)

*I felt like slapping that S.O.B. right on his face real hard , but Vinnie snapped*

Vinnie: hum log service karte hai yaha, job. IT company me. ( We work here at an IT company)

The second officer eneterd..
Officer 2: Kya? Bike bahar raste par rakh ke so jaoge...aur hum pehra denge kya? (What? You keep your bike outside on road expecting us to safeguard it or what?)

Me: Sir, bike to andar hi rakhi thi. Humein to sirf FIR karana tha.. (Sir, the bike was inside the premises. we only want to lodge an FIR)...

Officer 2: thik hai.. details humne le liya hai...humein apna ghar dikhao... (Ok, we have taken the details, show us your place)

We took them to our place and they had a couple of questionnaire rounds with our neighbors. Our landlord was most active *suddenly* and was giving his full condolences to us. He also requested the Police for proper investigation so that we don't face any problem. They asked us to be there at the staion early morning next day to lodge the case and an FIR.

Next day,

Officer 3 (age approx 50+ yrs): Kya hai?? Kya hua?? (What happened?)

Vinnie: Wo.. kal bike chori hui thi. Kal aae the complain likhane, aur officer ne kaha ki subha aake FIR likhwa dena. To FIR karwane aae hai. (We are here to lodge the FIR, my bike was stolen yesterday)

Officer 3: Achha.... (Ok)

He picked up a piece of paper and started writing something. Meanwhile another constable arrived there and started talking to the people behind the bars. He showed us his concerned and asked. We explained him that the bike was stlolen right from inside the premises of our place.

Constable: Choro ka ek competetion hua tha. Aur us competition me kalkatta ke chor first aae hai? bahut chant hai saale! aise aise ladke/ladkiya pocket maarte hai jinko dekh ke tum soch bhi nahi paoge ki "Pocket maar hoga"...sab Howrah se bus pe chadta hai aur Park Circus aate aate haath saaf karke nikal jaate hai.... thoda sa dhyan hata ki tumahara jeb kata!!
(there was a competion among the thieves and the thieves from kolkata bagged first placed. There are people whom you can't even imagine of being pick-pockets. They get up on the bus from Howrah and till Park Circus they become as half as rich as you are. Once u are distracted you are gone)

I thought of slapping him too, but then I was bound by law. I mean, if you know who the miscreants are and which bus they board and all, the why don't you go nab them?? What so special about the fact that you are explaining it in such pride..?? Suddenly the guy from behind the bars asked Vinnie about what had happened? He said "You'll surely get your bike back, brother!!" and I wish he is true. The other officer (Officer 3) was done with the scribbling by that time and handed us a small piece of paper with a number written on it , it said "GDE no. 503". Me and Vinnie watched the piece of paper in amusement.

Me : Sir, FIR karna tha. Ye to general diary hai. (Sir, we wanted to lodge an FIR. This is a general diary no.)

Constable: Arey!! bachha paida hote hi bada thode hi ho jata hai...time lagta hai...ye lo aur jao...8-9 din baad ana tab tak hum search karenge...fir dekha jaega. (A baby doesn't grow up the day he's born. It takes time. Take this no. and come after 8-9 days.We'll search till then and we'll see after that)

Vinnie : But humein FIR chori hone ke 24 ghanto ke andar karna hai nai to insurance claim me problem ho jaega. (we need to lodge an FIR within 24 hrs of the theft, otherwise there'll be problems in claiming the insurance)

Officer 3: Dekho yahi hai jo hai..issi se kaam chalega...ab jao aur ek hafte baad ana!! (This is it, this is the complaint we have registered...now go and come back after one week)

This whole trivia went on for the rest of the day, and finally they lodged the FIR. but there's a twist to it. We managed to find out some contacts to a retired DIG who apparently galled the IG in-charge and informed him about the case, who in turn later instructed the minions to lodge an FIR. And there we go, we finally got the FIR lodged at the 22nd hr from the theft.

The question here is Why such hesitation to lodge an FIR? why such a harsh experience? after all we are the victims!! Is it just the fear of the extra formalities that needed to be done in case of an FIR? or just a vague excuse to escape the investigation which have to be done in case of an FIR!? Why such incompetency, why such harrasment?

I still feel like punching those two officers right in their face, but as I said "I am bound by laws".