- Bribe Fighter
- 10 years ago
- 1326 views
Passport Verification
I had to get my newly renewed passport verified from the police station. I found out that it was not going to be an easy task. I was first told to bring all kinds of documents (both original and zeroxed) and the total number of documents were far too many to be really required for a simple police verification.
Any amount of documents I produced was not convincing them and each trip I made to the police station, a different set of documents were being asked for and I was threatened that my verification would not clear with the documents I had produced so far.
It soon became clear to me that I was not going to get my passport verified unless I paid a bribe. The inspector did not ask me directly but he implied it very subtly. Overall his attitude was very difficult to deal with and left me in two minds whether or not to pay a bribe and finish the job.
Finally I decided against it and informed them that I was going ahead with the documents I had produced so far and that I did not have any other which he may want.
He reluctantly agreed to it and accepted my submission. I later found out that my passport verification was immediately cleared!
I had all the necessary documents, but was simply being harassed and cajoled into paying a bribe. Thank god I did not fall for it, and went ahead with my document submission. There was nothing he could do to really prevent me from getting a passport, though he tried to scare me into paying a bribe if he could manage it.
Lesson learnt: The documents you produce to renew a passport are more than sufficient for police verification. The main job THEY have is to verify your address by visiting your place, and make sure you do not have any pending criminal cases against your name. Checking documents isn't really their main job.