La-la land of 'little girls' - (Or how to survive in this city if your uncle is not the mayor and you don’t enjoy the affections of the police minister)

Debapriya Chatterjee’s display picture on Twitter

TT, Calcutta, 26 May 2015: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday sprang to the defence of a " bachcha meye (little girl)", who happens to be aged 26 and is a niece of the Calcutta mayor.

" Bachcha meyedeyr ekta ghatana ghotechhey. Saradin dhorey eta boro korey dyakhano hochchhey (An incident involving little girls has taken place. That is being shown in a big way)," the chief minister, who is also in charge of the police ministry, told the Assembly.

Mamata was referring to the controversy around Debapriya Chatterjee, mayor Sovan Chatterjee's niece, who has been accused of abusing and shoving a traffic constable on Friday and then dropping the name of her uncle to walk free.

The chief minister, who was responding to Opposition charges that law and order is in tatters in the state, seemed to point a finger at the constable, Chandan Pandey, who stopped the "little girl's" car. Pandey has gone on long leave since Monday.

"Little girls have got involved in an incident but for that a traffic police constable will confiscate a licence?" the chief minister wondered aloud.

But Mamata assured the House: "I am not interfering. The police are probing the case."

Mamata also had a word of advice for her police department, which is unlikely to do much to boost the morale of the force that is under assault from lumpen elements in several parts of the state.

"Just like 100 per cent of politicians are not honest, there is one per cent like that among the police. For the handful of them, the others are losing face.... I say everybody needs counselling," Mamata said.

The following is a survival guide The Telegraph has drawn up for "little girls" and not-so-little Calcuttans of all genders who may or may not count a mayor among their uncles:

What are Debapriya's alleged offences?

Mamata Banerjee at Nazrul Mancha
on Tuesday. Pic: Sanat Kr Sinha

Alleged offence 1: At the wheel of a Nano on Friday night, Debapriya allegedly jumped a traffic signal at the Rashbehari crossing and then hit a pedestrian. Traffic constable Chandan Pandey stepped in and asked her to park the car along the kerb. Pandey asked for Debapriya's driving licence, which was handed over. When the constable sought the other documents, she lost her temper.

Alleged offence 2: Debapriya, a former journalist with a paper that was owned by Saradha, allegedly pushed the constable and took away his pocketbook, threatened to get him sacked and identified herself as the mayor's niece. More policemen arrived and detained two men in the group before allowing Debapriya and two other women in the car to go.

Alleged offence 3: About 500 metres away, near the Keoratala crematorium, Debapriya's car allegedly rammed into a road divider.

This time, she was taken to Tollygunge police station with the two other women. At the police station, Debapriya dropped the mayor's name again. The police allowed all five to leave.

(This newspaper was unable to reach Debapriya for her comments. However, Debapriya posted on Twitter a purported police complaint that she lodged at 11.49pm on Friday night at Tollygunge police station "against cognizable offences committed by officials of Kolkata Police and unidentified persons".

There, she said "the signal was clear" and a policeman stopped her car, took her licence, refused to call a sergeant and "insisted on settling the matter by taking a bribe".

"I and my female friends were forcefully and physically dragged out of the car... we were physically assaulted, our hair was pulled, our belongings were attempted to be stolen... and the police watched as the unruly mob used vulgar language and beat us up," she said.)

If the rulebook was followed

Since the signal was flouted, Debapriya should have been fined Rs 100 on the spot. She was not fined.

A case of rash driving under IPC Section 279 - driving so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life - should have been initiated for hitting a pedestrian. Debapriya was not charged with rash and negligent driving.

Since the offences took place within a short span of time, the police should have subjected the person at the wheel to an alcohol test. No breathalyser test was conducted.

What the police did

Took away her licence and gave it back after being told she was the mayor's niece.

Let go of the boys in the group, too, after realising their friend was the mayor's niece.

Lodged a case under Section 353, for assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty after the constable publicly said he was pushed and robbed of his pocketbook.

Can a constable seize a licence?

No. A constable cannot seize the licence but he has the authority to check its validity. (In this particular case, it has not yet been established conclusively that the licence was seized. The constable took the licence for verification and returned it when the three women were allowed to leave initially.)

Only sergeants and those ranked above can seize the licence. A challan has to be issued if the licence is taken away.

However, in reality, constables do take away licences and call for the nearest sergeant to take care of the paperwork.

When can a licence be seized?

When the offender is unable to pay the fine

When the offender is driving without papers

When one-way rules are violated

For the two offences mentioned above, a licence can be punched. For a fourth offence after three punches, the licence may be revoked. (The list of offences is indicative and not exhaustive.)

What "little girls" of 26 (the age declared by Debapriya) are empowered to do legally in India

Drive a car

Vote

Contest elections, barring that to the Rajya Sabha and Rashtrapati Bhavan

Marry a man of her choice

Order a drink in a bar

See an adult movie

Write a seminal doctoral thesis (if you are John Nash who did so when he was 21)

What "little girls" of any age can't do, unless you are the mayor's niece and entitled to the maternal affections of the chief minister

Abuse a policeman and push him around

Take away the policeman's pocketbook

Drop names and threaten to get the policeman sacked

Some of the interactions of @chattydebby (Debapriya's Twitter handle):

@makendbelieve: "@chattydebby Plz stop saying ur uncle's name agn nd agn. Grow up nd b decent."

@chattydebby: "@makendbelieve sovan chatterjee"

@RishMCFC: "...as u said u r 26 so no way u r a lil girl then are you?"

@chattydebby: "...nope im not, but to the CM, its natural i would be.. Shes like a mother figure, at least in terms of age if nothing else".