- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 961 views
Did not pay bribe for police verification
I went to the Powai police station for my passport. The first time I applied to renew it I thought I would never pay a bribe. Though I had gone through an agent, and that agent had verified all the documents, I expected there would be no issues. I needed my passport in a hurry due to an urgent trip abroad.
I was still a minor and an undergraduate student then and was a little naive. The inspector in the police station made me wait for almost 2 hours and then pulled out a file and said CID has blocked it now how do you expect me to clear such a file. At that time I did not know what to do. I just went back to the agent who asked me the name of the inspector and said it was very common for him to do this and that a 500 rupee note would sort out matters. Needless to say I did not pay him, he rejected the application.
I was forced to re-apply at considerable expense under the tatkal scheme (this was back in 2007) and this time it went to a different police station that was opposite the IIT gate. Here the inspector just gradually asked me a few questions. Made me photocopy my form (and a few of his own files) - I decided it was best to just give in - it wasn't going to cost me more than a few rupees and I was in too much of a hurry to refuse. I got my passport a few days after that.