Policemen in Allahabad refused to recognise digital copies of travel documents, alleges a student in the city.
Ishan Singhal, an Allahabad University student, says that when he showed his transport documents to the police on the DigiLocker app, he was told, “yeh app Modi ko dikha (Show this app to Modi).”
Since demonetisation last year, the Modi government has time and again spoken about the digitisation of daily tasks.
In July 2015, more than a year before demonestisation, PM Narendra Modi had launched the DigiLocker app, meant to store all your original documents online. In September last year, the government had announced that soon it would be okay to just to carry a soft copy of your Driver’s Licence (on DigiLocker), while travelling.
Singhal, while returning from his college around 4:15 pm on Wednesday, was stopped around Civil Lines by cops who were on the lookout for a stolen scooty.
Singhal told The Quint that he showed the police his driving licence, upon getting which they proceeded to add his details on an online platform.
When asked for documents like registration, insurance and pollution-under-control (PUC), Singhal showed the photocopies and told the police that he has the original documents on the DigiLocker app on his phone.
He alleges that on this point, the cops shared a laugh and told him to show this app to Modi.
Singhal says that when he told the cops that they can scan the QR code of his original documents on the application they had used to record his Driver’s Licence number, one of them said, “Don't argue with me. You will teach me how to do my job?”
The DigiLocker website says that the app fetches digitally signed documents in real-time directly from the National Register database, and that they are “legally valid under the Indian IT Act 2000”.
Issued a Challan of Rs 5,900
Then the policeman selected all possible fines and gave him a challan receipt with a fine of Rs 5,900, said Singhal. He added that the cop told him to go to the RTO and pay a bribe of Rs 300-400 and show the original documents there. Singhal also tweeted a picture of the challan.
He said after that the cops drove off, and he was left with a fine for things he did not do. Singhal has also narrated his alleged ordeal on Reddit.
Singhal said the police fined him for not wearing a helmet, even though he was wearing one. He said the police also fined him for the ‘pillion not wearing a helmet’, while he was travelling alone.
Singhal posted his story on Twitter and even got a reply from the Allahabad police, asking him to tell his story in a clear and concise way.
Allahabad city SP Siddharth Shankar Meena told The Quint that he doesn’t have any information about the incident and he will look into it.
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