- I Paid A Bribe
- 13 years ago
- 1470 views
Paid bribe for no platform ticket to avoid abuse by the TT
My mother had to catch a train from Nizamuddin railway station. I and my sister went to drop her. We went to the inquiry area to buy platform tickets and inquire about the train. But there was no one at the inquiry counter, there was a cardboard notice kept there saying "closed". How could they close the inquiry counter of a busy railway station at 2:30 in the afternoon was beyond my understanding. My sister panicked and instead of standing in the queue for platform ticket, I wasted 10-15 minutes figuring out at which platform is the train going to come and is it running on time. The train was on time and the platform was far. My mother is old and couldn't walk fast, hence I decided to leave her at the platform first.
After seeing her off, my sister and I were coming out of the station when a TT stopped us and asked us for platform tickets. We told him that we couldn't buy the tickets as we were in a rush. I was surprised when he started abusing us and threatened to call the lady RAF. I knew we were at fault, but it was a fault , not a crime. The TT had no right to abuse two girls. He said that the fine was Rs 500. I told him that I did not have that much money and I will get it from the nearest ATM and pay him the fine, while my sister can stand there. He out-rightly rejected it and told me to pay 100 Rs and go otherwise he will call the lady police. When I gave him 100 Rs, he kept it in his pocket and did not give any receipt. I was left fuming, but I was more concerned about my little sister. If she was not with me, I would have been scared by his threat to call the police. But I knew that they could fall to any level of abuse and indecency. I did not want my sister to witness any such thing hence I had to pay the bribe. Ironically, a railway policeman was sitting just a few feet away and witnessing the entire episode. I got the message - there is a nexus, everybody is comfortably taking bribes while the common people are suffering. Most important thing that hurt me was the lack of politeness and decency in our government servants. For minor offences for which they are supposed to charge a simple fine - why do they victimize and threaten people? They should also learn to be gender and age sensitive.