Sri Lankan police have arrested two people who posted a Facebook video showing one of them pretending to give a bribe to a traffic police cutout.<\/p>\n
In the footage, a motorcyclist is seen offering money to the life-size figure of an officer with a speed gun in the northern town of Vavuniya.<\/p>\n
The man in the video and his friend who filmed it have been released on bail.<\/p>\n
They are charged with damaging public property, and humiliating and creating a bad public image of the police.<\/p>\n
The cardboard cutout, which police say had its head damaged, is one of many which were placed on main roads last year to deter speeding and dangerous driving.<\/p>\n
A few months ago, local police arrested two youths who had taken one home.<\/p>\n
Bribing traffic police to avoid formal fines and a long-drawn out process in court is common in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
People have taken to social media to criticise the police action against the two men, said to be aged 23.<\/p>\n
“The youth were sending a powerful message aimed at eliminating the bribery culture,”\u00a0Twitter user Ameen Izzadeen told the BBC<\/a>. “It’s satire, not a crime.”<\/p>\n Another social media user wrote: “This is not some joke. So many people are killed every year due to bad driving. There is so much the cops can do to enforce the law.”<\/p>\n Transparency International, an anti-corruption NGO, told the BBC that it considers the police one of Sri Lanka’s most corrupt institutions.<\/p>\n “This issue is further evidenced by the lack of will to incorporate basic systems to combat petty bribery amongst traffic police,” said country head Asoka Obeysekara.<\/p>\n Last week police suspended two officers after a viral video showed them allegedly taking a bribe near the president’s office, which is also close to Sri Lanka’s police headquarters.<\/p>\n The country’s head of traffic police, Ajith Rohana, told the BBC last year they were taking measures to punish wrongdoers and urged the public to complain against such officers.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why is this controversial?<\/h2>\n