The night riders - i absolutely loved Robin for letting us do this

The collision seemed inevitable. The open rear of the red truck seemed to grow closer and closer, the red metal glinting in the headlights’ glare. Just when metal would have met metal, the car, with five lives in it swerved.

The police night-patrol car, a swanky Hyundai Accent, could easily accommodate five people. The night ride had begun at 11.30 pm from Triplicane Police Station, with two patrol cars, four police officers, six student reporters and a sleeping Chennai.

“P is for Polite, O for Obedience, L for Lively, I for Integrity, C for Courtesy and E for Efficiency…,” slurred police officer Kandaswamy from the front seat, reeking of booze. Gangadharan, the driver seemed momentarily dazed rather than awake after the close encounter with the red truck.

“Did you know that almost 70 percent of people in this city consume liquor after evening,” exclaimed M.Thangaraju, Inspector-in-charge of the the Law and Order section. Husband-wife quarrels, drunken brawls, petty quarrels, eve-teasing, traffic congestion, crowds and road obstructions are the usual complaints that the police station fields. “We get around 5-8 calls per night. Most of them are complaints of drunken disturbances.”

The Triplicane or the D-1 police station has jurisdiction over three areas namely; Lok Nagar, SM Nagar and Ellispuram. These are essentially slum areas hence ‘sensitive’.

From 11.30 pm to 4.30 am, the soldiers of the night ride through the city, monitoring the streets and checking vehicles. The patrol drill starts at around half an hour short of midnight.12.30 to 4.30 are the ‘prevention of crime rounds’ when the patrol squads move across areas with whistling sirens and flashing lights. The awakening city calls for another round from 4.30 to 6.30, when the cars survey the milk booth areas and walking zones where usually people gather.

The Yellow Brigade ( police on motorbikes) patrol the city during the day and the Blue Brigade is the night patrol. Wing Patrol is different from Night Patrol. “Sometimes we get calls from the Police Control room informing us about some disturbance, for which the Wing Patrol is deputed. The Wing Patrol van is essentially for emergencies and is not permitted to be used unless.” Thangaraju said.

Assault, attempt to murder, murder are all classified under ‘hurt’ cases, which are handled by another Inspector who is in-charge of the Crime section. “Most of the cases that are petty offences are registered under the CP Act,” Thangaraju explained.

Besides dealing with domestic cruelty, the CP Act or the City Protection Act also deals with animal cruelty. Section 53 of the Act provides for penalty for cruel behaviour to animals, often utilized in the case of chickens. Owner negligence to animals, small residential enclosures for the animals all fall under the ‘cruelty’ category. “The live chickens are hung upside down on the bicycle and taken to the slaughter house,” In collaboration with the SPCA(Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the Police book the offenders, though the punishment is in the form of a fine. “We also conduct surprise checks,”

The Police also conduct ‘preventive arrests’ under section 109 CRPC. Ex-convicts are traced and remanded to police custody prior to Government elections, as a measure to prevent them from causing any hindrance. There are 17 rowdies under our jurisdiction. We even maintain a ‘rowdy book’ that is updated every month,” said Thangaraju.

By 11 pm, the Police station had received its prompt share of complaints. Two suicides were reported; one by immolation and the other, by hanging. Two accused in a burglary case were locked up inside.

A couple, accompanied by a thin, young man in blue jeans sat at the table, awaiting the girl’s father who was speaking in the Inspector’s cabin. The couple sat close to each, drawing each other’s presence for comfort. The girl’s eyes would anxiously dart towards her husband and immediately he would mutter a few words of reassurance and the girl would slide back into the chair, the doubt on her face momentarily cleared.

Sangeetha and Arul Raj were a newly wedded couple. “They both have got married against parental wishes and have now approached us for help as the girl’s father is trying to cause problems,” said a bald constable dismissively. “He is trying to convert her,” the girl’s father cried out referring to Arul Raj who was a Christian. Unperturbed by the emotional outburst, Inspector Thangaraju asked Sangeetha, “Are you a Christian now?” Vigourously nodding her head, in a loud voice that seemed unnatural for her thin frame, she exclaimed, “NO!”

At this Sangeetha’s father started to protest again but was cut off by Thangaraju who prompted the jeans-clad young man to speak. “I am Charles, a Chennai Law College third year student and am here to plead their case,” he said with a glance at where the couple was sitting. “Both of them are adults and have been married under the Christian Marriage Act. But Sangeetha’s father got her kidnapped and took her to Trichy and even attempted to get her married off again. But with the help of the police, I prevented this from happening as another marriage would have legally meant bigamy.”

“We deal with love marriage cases and dowry harassment cases as well. However most of the women related cases are referred to the women police stations.” The Triplicane police station has three lockups, one on the outside for law and order offenders and one on the inside for offenders awaiting trial. The third lockup is a storage space for cardboard boxes rather than prisoners.

“It was a women’s cell, but Chief Minister MGR during his regime didn’t want women to enter the police station, so this cell was shut down,” said the constable.

The patrol began at 11.30 with the cars surveying Wallajah Road, heading towards DM Nagar. The night patrol also involves shutting down shops after the stipulated time which is around 12.00. Glancing at a few tea shops, that were open at 1 am, Gangadharan muttered, “We know these shopkeepers, who mean no harm, so we try and ‘help’ them and extend their deadline.” SM Nagar being a slum area does not host any shopping centres or jewellery shops, so the basic nature of the ‘crime’ here are petty offences. Kandaswamy added a garbled ‘Umm...mm...yess..,”

After an hour of surveying, the patrol cars stopped at a tea joint, halting for tea. The narrow escape from the red truck called for a protective shield from sleep.Tea was an attempt to bury the sleep that was casting shadows on Gangadharan’s eyes, and soon the patrol cars were on their way.

Both the patrol cars stopped at the Bharati Salai and Triplicane High Road Junction for the ‘vehicle checking’. Police officers from the Zam Bazaar police station were there too. Soon a prey was snared. Sub-Inspector N.Karanan caught a couple of youths, who didn’t have all the required documents on them. Shades of confusion followed by uncertainty and then fear traversed the youth’s face when his bike was stopped by the stern-looking police man wielding a wooden rod. Indicating a man nearby to take hold of the bike, N.Karnan told the youth, “Go home, lad, and get the papers. Come to the police station and get your bike, it is as simple as that.”

While the colour had drained from the rider’s face face, his pillion partner had a sheepish smile. As the bike began to be led away, the youth’s reflexes seemed to click and immediately he began in his pockets and emerged with a cell phone. After speaking to someone over the phone, he handed over the phone to the official who had nabbed him and a conversation ensued. “Yes, tell me..yes..yes..ok, but I cannot compromise on the documents..,” and the officer handed the phone over to the youth back again. The bike apparently belonged to the shop around the corner and the phone call was to dissuade the official from seizing the bike.

“We know most of the shopkeepers around the place, and we also know who is capable of causing trouble,” N.Karnan told one of the reporters.

After rounds of the MLA hostel, trade fair, the patrol vehicle retuned to the police station to review whether any new cases had been filed. Ezhumalai and Kamaldas, two ex-convicts had been arrested. Three women stood at the entrance of the station, two young wives and an old mother.

“They keep doing this, waking up our husbands in the middle of the night and arresting them. Then our husbands go away into remand homes and return only after 2-3 months,” complained Ezhumalai’s wife, Gita.” Anand a plainclothes policeman immediately retorted, “Her husband steals anything and everything. He was arrested for stealing pipes earlier, wasn’t he?” Gita silently nodded. “Do these people look sad and worried that their husbands are in jail? They don’t because these arrests have become a regular affair.” he said with a smirk.

“These policemen are porikkis (womanizers),” says Bijeleshwari, Kamal Das’s wife who works as a cleaning lady in an office. “They ask me sly questions like, why do I work late, how can I come to the police station so late in the night. But after all I need to work for a living as well.” she says.

After noting down the usual details, one patrol car with N.Karnan set out again, this time to check patta books. Patta books are a type of attendance registers-cum-on-duty records which security guards, especially the one in ATMs are supposed to have. The Sub-Inspector who surveys the area, signs the book after perusal. There are two ATMs near Shanti movie theatre. N.Karnan halted the car and gestured the guards to approach him with the book. After an initial bout of confused eye-blinking, one of the guards hurried over to the car holding the book as if an offering.

The other guard slept behind the glass confines of the ATM, unheeded to both the other guard’s sharp, frantic calls as well as the sub-Inspector’s commanding shouts. After a couple of minutes, the sleeping guard finally stirred, saw the patrol car with its silent flashing lights and rushed to it. With a slight reprimand he was let off.

At around 3 pm the car lazed back to the police station, another night spent in scouting and preventing crime. The city slept as the nocturnal warriors returned to justice’s shell.