Even as the police are trying hard to curb the sale of pirated movies in the city, officers claim that there has been an increase in omnibuses playing new releases for passengers. Two bus drivers were nabbed on charges of playing such movies recently.
Nearly a week ago, there were reports that a pirated DVD of Vijay-starrer Theri , which hit the screens on April 14, was screened on a bus in which a fan of actor Vijay was travelling. He informed the police and the driver was arrested.
Similarly on Monday, there were reports of the movie Manidhan being played on a bus from Coimbatore. A passenger alerted the Nadigar Sangam. The police inspected the bus and detained the driver.
Senior police officers claim that in some cases, bus owners themselves arrange for such movies to attract passengers.
“However, in some cases, the drivers do it without the knowledge of the owners,” says an officer. But they feel tackling piracy is getting tougher by the day.
“Now nobody carries DVDs. People load the movies into pen drives or their mobile phones. It is exchanged using some applications while travelling by trains or buses,” an officer says.
Well-deserved break
After nearly a month of non-stop duty, city policemen heaved a sigh of relief on Monday when the State Assembly elections were conducted.
With the formation of special squads such as Static Surveillance Team, many policemen found themselves in multiple duties.
Apart from vehicle-checking, some were on routine night patrols aimed largely at keeping a check on drunk driving. It was a punishing schedule for new women constables too. It will be relatively easy for the personnel on the day of counting on Thursday, but they also have to be cautious and ensure that they keep enthusiastic party cadres under check.
“There are suggestions that elections in Tamil Nadu should be conducted in multiple phases. We would dread such a situation. In a multiple-phase election, we would have to move between places in a very short span of time,” says a senior inspector who is about to retire.
He says that there is a general perception that policemen tend to act very slowly on general complaints during the time of elections, but in reality, they get tied up with certain crucial duties during polls, giving them very little time to follow up on most cases.
(Reporting by
Vivek Narayanan and
K. Manikandan)
