Court tells traffic police to publicise email id

Mumbai: The Mumbai traffic police on Wednesday informed the court that it had created an email id to receive complaints against corrupt traffic police officers. It also said that from October 2016 till date, departmental action had been initiated against 13 officers after receiving complaints against them. The court told the traffic police that it should widely publicise the email id. “Don’t keep the email id under wraps. Publicise it so that people will come to know about it,” the court said.

A division bench of justice R. M. Sawant and justice Sadhana Jadhav was hearing a PIL filed by suspended traffic head constable Sunil Toke, alleging that there were many instances of corruption in the traffic department and that there was video and pictorial evidence to support his claims. Toke asked for a departmental inquiry and registration of FIRs against errant officers.

During the last hearing, the court had asked the police to file an affidavit regarding steps taken to curb the practice of taking bribes. Joint commissioner, traffic, Amitesh Kumar, submitted an affidavit stating action taken and said it was the top priority of the commissioner to ensure transparency in the department.