It feels like I’m getting robbed

As I grew up my father always use to say “stay away from cops and thieves”, only took me a few years to figure why he said cops in this line. Some people say Cops are more dangerous than thieves in India. Since I have spent most of my life outside of the United states in India, I have had some of experiences there where it feels like my possessions are being seized by the police. Though it was legal but it felt like something is wrong.

Since my father always tried to avoid cops, he was following the rules all the time(be it at a no smoking place or traffic signals). But one time while we were coming back home from my soccer tryouts, he missed on red light. The police pulled us over and asked for his license, RC ( Registration Certificate) and insurance to see the details of the car. Everything was correct, officer fined us with 150000 rupee fine (in that price one can get a new car). Since India does not has a set guidelines on the fine that should be put on someone who crosses red line (if there is they don’t follow it )My Father calmly started explaining the officer that it was the first time he did this and that he was getting late for his office meeting. The officer increased the fine making it twice as much as before. The officer told the superior officer that my father was fighting and verbally abusing him so he charged him. My father got so upset that he called for my mom to pick us up and left the car their for them to seize it.

It still scares me whenever I think about how my uncle lost his job. My uncle had a shop in a market. He refused to sell it to the government. The next day we wake up the entire store was destroyed by some people, when we went to file a police complain they said that it got destroyed in a riot. He thought that the cost of repair was going to be a lot, had no choice but to sell it to the government. (for a rate less than the one offered before) The police knew the truth that it was done by who but they still did not do anything.

All these instance made me wish sometimes, about how good of a place India would be without any police.