- I Paid A Bribe
- 13 years ago
- 1418 views
Had to pay Chai Money for Security Officers at Mysore Palace
- Police
- Police Harassment
- Paid INR 50
My family was on a tourist visit to Mysore Palace on Feb 12 2011. On entering the premises, we proceeded to the main gallery to view the Paintings, after passing through two security checks. At the gallery , all of a sudden the security officials there caught hold of me and said that "someone" had reported that I had photographed some of the paintings inside. We said we did not carry a mobile phone camera and my wife and I showed to the officers our mobile phones. This is when the incident started turning ugly, with the police officers alleging that we were disrespecting them and we could be handed over to the Mysore Police for misbehavior at the Palace We tried reasoning with the officers saying that we were being held unfairly and also asked them if this is how they treated guests. My wife and I repeatedly showed our phones which were very basic models that couldn't have compromised any of the artwork in the Palace. They argued that we had to shut down the mobile phones before entering the Gallery. We countered saying that such an information was not told to us during the two security checks before entering the Gallery. Finally, I pleaded with the officers to let us go since we did not want to get in to any trouble and this tour would have to be cancelled if we were to go through the legal wrangles. Finally, the officers let us go on the condition that we pay some Chai Money (Rs 50).
One shudders to think in the light of the recent terrorist attacks, how easy it would be for "terrorists" or miscreants to compromise the security at such national monuments by paying "Chai Money". Sad affairs of the country.