Actress Vani flays 'rude' cops

Bollywood actress Vani Tripathi says six men who claimed to be police stopped her car and acted rudely after seeing her driver speaking on the mobile phone. She also got fined eventually.

The incident took place on Mumbai's Lower Parel Highway Wednesday evening when Vani, the leading lady of "Dil Se Pooch Kidhar Jaana Hai", was on her way to attend a meeting, the former model told IANS over telephone.

According to Vani, a silver coloured Zen car overtook her car and forced her to stop.

"I was on my way to a meeting. Suddenly, the Zen overtook my car and six huge men in plain clothes stepped out. They encircled my car and started knocking on my window asking me to come out," Vani said.

"When I got out and asked who they were, they identified themselves as policemen. They made offensive gestures, used abusive language and said that my driver had violated traffic rules by talking over the phone while driving."

The actress added that the men then called a traffic policeman and instructed him to fine her.

"I explained what happened to the traffic policeman but he refused to listen and said the police can never misbehave. He fined me Rs.700 alleging I had violated the traffic rule," she said.

The actress said she would take up the matter with the police commissioner.

"But I am not sure whether the police will take action against the men who claimed themselves to be 'police'," she said, adding a number of her co-artists had faced similar episodes. "When you are a non-Marathi, the problem becomes 300-fold."