- Bribe Hotline
- 13 years ago
- 2109 views
I had gone with my friend for police verification for his passport application. We didnt pay bribe. So the application has not been processed by the police. I think until we go and pay bribe the polic
I am glad that you didn't pay a bribe! 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. They delay the process deliberately to push the citizen into paying a bribe to speeden up the process.
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.
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.