Citizens let robbers do their business

LAHORE - How citizens are reacting now to the growing mobile phone snatching, is clear from the incident that took place at Shadman Chowk on Saturday when a man raised no hue and cry after a robber took away his cellphone from his car in broad daylight nor contacted police. Probably, he considered it a waste of time to involve police in the incident. He must be thanking his stars for the reason that the youth committing crime did not hurt him. The car rider neither offered resistance nor he made call on 15 for help when a youth in his early 20s, black in complexion and thin in build-up, appeared from a roadside, eyed his target, and then in maddening rush, opened door of the car and took away his cellphone placed on the seat of the car.  This scribe was an eyewitness to the incident when the youth committed crime some three yards away. Believe it or not reaction of the victim, riding Honda VTI, in his 40s, was as if nothing had happened to him. He even did not ask anybody present there to help him or chase the robber as usually happened in street crime incidents. Nervous to respond to the situation, he even forgot to use indicators on important turns. Soon after the incident, the unknown man shifted gear of his car and drove towards his destination calmly after the red signal of the Shadman Chowk turned into green. While the youth who committed crime disappeared on motorcycle through a side road exactly at the back of main Shadman road without any fear, where his mate was waiting him to join him after committing the robbery. The victim car rider was waiting for green signal next to this scribe's car at the traffic signal of Shadman Chowk on Saturday when the incident took place.   The robber who appeared at the site on foot was carrying no arm in his hand, which showed that he was very confident to deal such mobile snatching incidents. It appeared from his act as if he was not new in the world of mobile phone-snatching crime on the roads and streets. Similarly, the reaction of the victim car rider was also not different to that of the robber, which showed that it was not a new incident of mobile-snatching with him and he had become habitual of such incidents in the past. There was very close similarity in the reactions of both - robber and the victim man - that seemed as if both were dealing with a routine work. Another interesting factor of the incident was that contrary to the reaction of the victim man, the other motorists who were present in their vehicles and witnessed the street crime incident were looking very excited. They, however, went to their destinations also when they observed that the victim did not bother to seek help or raise huge and cry over the incident. When this scribe contacted, Muharrar of the Shadman police station Ahmad Ali said that police have received no such complaint of mobile-snatching incident that took place at Shadman Chowk on Saturday. While a source in police 15 also claimed that police received no call of mobile snatching incident at Shadman Chowk.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt