In a shocking post which went massively viral on social media recently, Former Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta from Kolkata narrated an incident which puts road safety and police invigilation into question.
While travelling back home from work via an Uber along with a colleague, Ushoshi’s car was hit by a bike near Exide Crossing – a place right in the heart of the city which remains busy even late into the night. The men in the bike were without helmets and after banging onto the car, they stopped the bike and started yelling at the driver. In a matter of seconds, Ushoshi found her Uber surrounded by 15 odd men, threatening them. Soon, the dragged the driver outside and the men started beating him.
Posted by Ushoshi Sengupta on Tuesday, June 18, 2019
“I ran across the street to Maidan Police station, I saw an officer standing and I requested him to come with me, he told me that this is not under them but under the jurisdiction of Bhowanipore Police station. This is when I broke down I begged them to come or else the boys would have killed the driver. The officers came and held the boys saying why are they creating a nuisance . The boys pushed the police officers and ran away,” she wrote.
Around 12 AM, when the incident was done with, Ushoshi asked the driver to drop her home, which he kindly agreed to. However, things took a turn for the worse.
“To my utter surprise, the boys followed us till my colleague’s house and right when we were dropping him near lake gardens govt housing, 6 of the boys in 3 bikes came and stopped my car, threw stones, broke the car, Dragged me out and tried to break my phone to delete the video. My colleague jumped out of fear and I was completely shaken. I came out started shouting by now the locals had come out.”
After this, she went to a nearby local police station to lodge a complaint. But the police said she could only file a complaint at Bhowanipur Police Station, which falls within the area where the incident happened. This made her lose her calm and she started shouting at the officials, questioning their jurisdiction. The police didn’t want to lodge a complaint by the Uber driver for his assault, and it was a big mess.
Posted by Ushoshi Sengupta on Tuesday, June 18, 2019
You can read the entire post here. A video of the men laughing and intimidating the driver was also posted by her:
Last night 18th June 2019 at around 11:40 pm I took an uber from JW Marriott kolkata to go back home after finishing…
Posted by Ushoshi Sengupta on Tuesday, June 18, 2019
The post had gone viral immediately and people of the internet were condemning the police for their inaction. The online stir, however, caught the attention of Kolkata Police and they soon reached out to Ushoshi.
We have taken this incident very seriously and seven persons have been arrested so far. On the order of the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, an inquiry regarding the non-registration of F.I.R. has been initiated into this incident, at a very senior level.
— Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) June 18, 2019
Speaking to sources, Ushoshi said:
“I am finding it difficult to believe that it is my Kolkata. How come youths without helmets are roaming fearlessly in Kolkata and teasing people? You can see in my video how all of them were laughing. They were misbehaving, manhandling and tried to snatch my bag. It happened in the heart of the city. It’s shocking. I am thankful to Kolkata Commissioner of Police who called me after getting to know about the incident and I heard that all of them were arrested.”
It is severely alarming and shameful how the accused first rode bikes without helmets, hit a car, and then had the audacity to intimidate and assault the driver. It’s only when traffic police officials start taking stricter action and address the matter immediately will there be hope for safer streets.