Kovai man couldn’t afford bike insurance: Gesture by cop who caught him won hearts

Instead of giving the motorist some money, the cop decided to fix his problem.
Kovai man couldn’t afford bike insurance: Gesture by cop who caught him won hearts
Kovai man couldn’t afford bike insurance: Gesture by cop who caught him won hearts
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What started out to be a usual evening in Singanallur, Coimbatore, ended up being an anything but usual for Sub Inspector Murugan. His empathy-filled gesture towards a motorist has drawn appreciation from the public.

Murugan, a traffic policeman, was engaged in routine vehicle checks at Vasantha mills-Trichy road junction in Singanallur with a team of police personnel. A motorist, who did not have insurance for his vehicle, spoke about his poor wages and family situation with tears in his eyes, prompting Murugan to help him.

Sharing the incident with TNM, Murugan says that they had stopped a bunch of motorists on the side of the road to check their documents when he noticed one of the motorists crying. On asking why he was crying, the motorist confessed to Murugan about his job as a daily wage earner and how his wages were not enough to feed his own wife and child. 

“For someone to stand on a road and cry, in front of many policemen and other bystanders, life must be really tough. So I asked him more about his life and family. He told me that his wife had a surgery recently and hence she is not working. They had also employed a domestic worker to take care of his wife and infant,” Murugan says.  

Murugan told the man to wait for a few minutes while the police team dealt with other motorists who did not have the requisite documents. Murugan later came back to the man and asked him if he would be fine if Murugan helped him get vehicle insurance for the two wheeler.

“Giving him money would have been a short term fix. He would still need insurance for his vehicle in order to not get caught elsewhere in the city. So I figured buying him insurance would be better than giving him money. So I asked him if I can buy him and he accepted,” he explains. Murugan immediately called his friend in United India Insurance Company and asked him to arrange for an insurance certificate and paid for it.

A native of Rasipuram in Namakkal district, Murugan joined the Tamil Nadu police in 2012. He studied B Sc Chemistry in Thiruvalluvar Government Arts College in Rasipuram and completed his MA in Police Administration in correspondence. Murugan’s mother and siblings live in and around Rasipuram while he lives in Coimbatore for his work.

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