The road rage incident was recorded at Vijay Crossroads, Ahmedabad. The accused duo Yogesh Pujara and Chiman Desai were released by Gujarat University police in quick time having secured Rs 20,000 bail bonds. As per IPC sections applied at the time, the road rage episode wasn’t considered serious. How intentional violence, destruction of private property, disruption of traffic, or threatening a woman is not a shameful act punishable by law is yet to be explained. Oh yes, and please do book him for not wearing a seatbelt either.
34 year old Ami Tahiliani, a resident of Gurukul was driving to a hospital in Naranpura on the morning of 23rd February. When near Seema-Saurabh crossroads, an approaching driver made contact, blamed her for the contact, and asked her to exit her vehicle. No doubt, she would have sensed trouble in his tone, and refused to do step out. The driver didn’t take this well, and called upon his friend for back up. There’s also a visibly clueless child accompanying him, who is promptly handed over to someone.
The latter then begins ramming the passenger side of Ami’s WagonR. The other guy starts kicking her door in the meantime, while her vehicle has changed direction after the assault. Traffic cop totally wins the moment. Walkie talkie and baton in hand, he exhibits sheer apathy and isn’t quick enough to react and stop the hooligans. Complainants had submitted the road rage video as evidence.
Women’s safety and women’s day sound great in spirit. Reality has nothing to do with that spirit of equality, justice and right. The self explanatory video requires no transcript. the few words caught on tape are: Hooligan 1 says ‘su dadagiri che aa’ most likely referring to Ami not exiting the vehicle. There’s a reason education is important. He has clearly misinterpreted the meaning of dadagiri.
Hooligan says, ‘Chaavi laai’ meaning give me the keys. The remainder words you hear are a mix of cuss words and bystanders expressing shock at what is unfolding in front of him. We also feel for the man in the pink shirt who can’t believe what the man just did, and points to the cop not doing his job.
