A Facebook user shared a story, all circumstances of which are self-explanatory – the date, 8^th of March, and the peculiar interpretation of the new Administrative Crime Code provisions by a policeman.

On the 8^th of March, the International Women’s Day, a passenger was in a cab.  The car-driver shared with her his attitudes to colleagues.  His vocabulary was obscene and insulting.  The passenger asked the driver to cease to curse.  That did not help.

The passenger told the cab-driver she would call police and reminded him of a new law, by which obscene language in public would result in mandatory payment of a penalty in the amount of 20 Monthly Calculation Indexes or an administrative arrest.

In response to that, the cab-driver asked the lady to shut up and said that his cab was his home, not a public place.  And expressed opinion that it was unlikely that police would come to investigate such a miserable conflict.

The lady showed persistence – she recorded the behavior of the driver on video and would not leave the taxi, until a policeman arrived. 

A policeman did come, not immediately though.  For unknown reasons, the policeman quoted a recent public statement made by the Minister of Internal Affairs – “If you drop a hammer on your foot and curse, you shall not pay penalty”.

But, by law, a cab is not the driver’s home.  It is a public place, just like a bus, or a train. It appears unclear, why the policeman made reference to above phrase by the Minister. 

So, the policeman did have to file an appropriate record and a court will now define the responsibility to be assumed by the cab-driver.