- Bribe Hotline
- 14 years ago
- 6310 views
Is it necessary to give money during the verification process for the passport......?? But they are openly asking money during this time
Demanding bribes for passport verification is a common problem. The situation is one where the police know that you have no choice, and so extract a price from you.The Ministry of External Affairs of India has a Passport Seva Portal which explains the entire passport process in detail with the help of flow charts and animation. The address of the website is as follows:
http://passportindia.gov.in
Where you come across instances such as this, I would suggest that you make a written complaint about such case to the vigilance authorities mentioned in the website of the External Affairs Ministry, at
http://passport.gov.in/
The website clearly mentions that the police is supposed to verify the details and documents of the applicant and that it does not require the applicant to produce himself before the police. However, is most cases, the police violate this provision and try to demand bribes, mainly because they are confident that the applicants are ignorant of the rules. In our 'I paid a bribe' reports, you do come across cases where the applicant was called to the station and some wherein the police came to the applicant's neighbourhood to verify the details.
I would suggest that in case the police ask you to come to the station, please download the guidelines from the above website and demand that they follow the rules. Very often, a little indication that we know the rules is enough for the police to back off from demanding bribes. The corrupt always prey on the weak and ignorant. it will also be useful to record their conversation with you, if they are openly demanding bribes from you.
Please also file an RTI application with the Passport office to find out what has happened to your application, if it is delayed. When encountering the police, please mention to the police that you know your rights and that you will complain to higher authorities if they demand a bribe. There are several instances reported in our -I didnt pay a bribe section where citizens have successfully resisted demands for bribes for the issue of passports and for the police verification. It is only if we stand up and be firm about not paying a bribe, that things will change.