Guwahati, September 25 (MExN): A female passenger travelling from Mokokchung to Guwahati Blue Hill night bus had a rude awakening when she saw her purse kept inside her hand bag thrown on the floor of the bus and the Rs 13,400 inside it missing. The bus was made to stop and enquiries made, but the thief was never caught. Obviously, a passenger who boarded the bus from Jakhalabandha (where the night bus usually makes a stop) was the suspected thief; because this guy kept changing his seats and had a suspicious behavior in him, said the distraught victim.
“I wrapped my handbag tightly and went off to sleep,” said the victim. When she woke up at around 3:00 A.M, the purse was found on the floor of the bus and the ‘passenger’ who boarded the bus from Jakhalabandha long stepped down from the bus along the way.
However, passengers inside the Blue Hills bus traveling in the bus expressed exasperation that thieves posing as passengers simply to rob the sleeping passengers of their cash. Some passengers especially voiced out against the practice of the bus drivers and handymen picking up hitchhiking travelers along the way, simply to earn some extra cash. It is learnt that the money they earn from the hitchhiking travelers are not paid to the owner of the bus, but simply pocketed by the driver and the handymen.
“Such practice of picking up hitchhikers would encourage such kind of theft; the problem with hitchhikers is that the management does not know who they are and since they do not have tickets, there is no way of knowing their identity. The only reason why people in night buses, is to sleep on the journey, and if our valuables are robbed while we are asleep, then this is a serious issue here,” said Sashi Jamir, a passenger.
The victim disclosed that she would not file an FIR since it would not serve any purpose, and with her cash robbed (her ATM cards were spared, however), her trip to Guwahati, which is for a purpose, won’t serve any purpose, thanks to over helpful driver and handymen, who wanted to extend help to some hitchhikers, and who turned out to be unscrupulous thieves
“I wrapped my handbag tightly and went off to sleep,” said the victim. When she woke up at around 3:00 A.M, the purse was found on the floor of the bus and the ‘passenger’ who boarded the bus from Jakhalabandha long stepped down from the bus along the way.
However, passengers inside the Blue Hills bus traveling in the bus expressed exasperation that thieves posing as passengers simply to rob the sleeping passengers of their cash. Some passengers especially voiced out against the practice of the bus drivers and handymen picking up hitchhiking travelers along the way, simply to earn some extra cash. It is learnt that the money they earn from the hitchhiking travelers are not paid to the owner of the bus, but simply pocketed by the driver and the handymen.
“Such practice of picking up hitchhikers would encourage such kind of theft; the problem with hitchhikers is that the management does not know who they are and since they do not have tickets, there is no way of knowing their identity. The only reason why people in night buses, is to sleep on the journey, and if our valuables are robbed while we are asleep, then this is a serious issue here,” said Sashi Jamir, a passenger.
The victim disclosed that she would not file an FIR since it would not serve any purpose, and with her cash robbed (her ATM cards were spared, however), her trip to Guwahati, which is for a purpose, won’t serve any purpose, thanks to over helpful driver and handymen, who wanted to extend help to some hitchhikers, and who turned out to be unscrupulous thieves
