Thoughtless towing

For a community reputed to maintain its vehicles in exemplary condition, imagine the humiliation suffered by one of its members on being told that his vehicle was towed away because it looked abandoned! The person who had to suffer this humiliation was 63-year-old sports writer Bapu Malcolm.

His 1972 Rajdoot was parked in the ‘pay-and-park’ lot outside K. C. Law College when it was whisked away by civic officials during the half hour he had left it there, supposedly a "joint cleaning-up operation by the Bombay Municipal Corporation and the police,” Malcolm told the Mid Day of December 17, 2004. After doing the rounds of several traffic police out­posts and municipal offices he learnt that the vehicle had re­ached a civic office in Andheri (east).

The officials reportedly admitted their mistake and asked him to collect it. But Malcolm insisted it was their responsibil­ity to return it exactly to the same spot within 24 hours else he would be compelled to file a case of theft against the guilty towing workers. The motorbike was finally returned to Malcolm as demanded for as the senior citizen reasoned, "It was my right to get the seized vehicle delivered back to me. The erring officials should be punished.”