The beacon is a licence for many to flout traffic rules. A Telegraph picture

Tarit Topdar and his driver who thought a beacon light was the only licence he required to drive a car can count themselves unlucky.

Police routinely let go of scores of cars that flaunt the ultimate in VIP fashion accessories and make light of traffic rules. The list of violators includes politicians, military officers, judges, MPs, MLAs, their extended families and the arrogant drivers at the wheel of their beacon-embellished vehicles.

For the policeman out on the road, the unwritten rule is to jot down the number of the vehicle flouting a traffic rule and forget it if it has a beacon.

“Just stand at any of the key intersections across the city during peak hours and you will see how blatantly cars with beacons flout rules. As and when we jot down a number and file a case, a letter from the VIP owner ensures that the matter ends there,” a senior officer at the traffic guard headquarters said.

Officially, no policeman would dare speak out. But most have experiences to narrate off the record.

“Last Friday, I was at the Park Street-Chowringhee intersection around 6pm when a Toyota Qualis with a beacon light came rushing from the Mayo Road end and violated the traffic signal while trying to enter Kyd Street, where the MLA Hostel is located. I tried stopping the car, but it sped past. It was humiliating,” an officer said.

One of his colleagues recalled how the driver of a VIP car refused to budge from a no-parking zone in the same area a fortnight ago.

“The car, a white Maruti Esteem of a legislator, was parked along Kyd Street in the evening. I asked the driver to remove the vehicle and he just smirked, daring me to file a case. I did file a parking violation case, knowing full well that nothing would come of it.”

Policemen say the most frequent offenders are the vehicles with an additional licence to violate: Writers’ Buildings stickers. A week ago, a white Ambassador with such a sticker violated the signal at the Park Street-Wood Street crossing around 9.30 in the morning and sped off despite the police officer posted there trying to stop it.

Vehicles belonging to military officers are not far behind. “Walk into Lindsay Street and you will often find at least one car belonging to someone from the services parked illegally. If you ask the driver to remove it, he will say that his saab has asked him to park the car at that very spot. It happens round the year, though more during the Puja season,” an officer said.

The high court had only last year ordered the removal of red overhead lights from cars used by political leaders and government officials.

“Only police pilot cars, ambulances and the fire brigade have the right to fit beacons atop their vehicles. No one else has the right to do so,” a division bench had said in response to a petition against the indiscriminate use of VIP beacons.

The bench said it was merely ordering the implementation of a rule that already existed but was routinely flouted.