Police acts after 84-year-old passport seeker asks court to legalise bribe

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times  Guwahati, July 14, 2013

The police in central Assam’s Nagaon district declined to carry out the verification process for Muktadir Ali Talukdar to get his passport. A letter to the Gauhati high court seeking legalisation of bribe finally made them do their job.

84-year-old Talukdar had earlier this month written to the chief justice AK Goel requesting him to legalise bribe so that his conscience could be clear while paying for something the police were duty-bound to do.

He said that he had applied for passport twice to go on Haj.

But on both occasions, his files did not move beyond the local police station.

“I produced all documents sought by the police during verification, but they demanded bribe. I refused to pay outright,” he wrote. Talukdar reapplied after the regional passport office (RPO) in Guwahati closed his file in course of time.

The police allegedly demanded money again, forcing him to write to the chief justice.

“Since files do not move without giving bribes, it should be legalised,” he wrote, adding refusal or inability to grease the palms made many Hajis like him miss out on the pilgrimage to Mecca every year.

Soon after the letter reached the court, officers of the local police station visited Talukdar to apologise for the harassment he had to face. “We will try to make sure such things do not happen in the future,” district police chief VR Singh said.