Cops act after passport seeker asks court to legalise bribe

TALUKDAR HAD APPLIED FOR PASSPORT FOR HAJJ TWICE, BUT NAGAON POLICE IN ASSAM REFUSED TO PROCEED WITH VERIFICATION

GUWAHATI: This is one solution to corruption that had eluded the nation’s intrepid anti- corruption activists: legalisation of bribes. It had occurred to 84-yearold Muktadir Ali Talukdar. And he had written to the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court to that effect.

It was no mean provocation Talukdar had to face.

He had applied for passport for Hajj, not once but twice.

But the police in central Assam’s Nagaon district had practically refused to proceed with the mandatory verification process.

In fact, on both occasions, Talukdar’s files did not move beyond the local police station.

After the regional passport office in Guwahati closed his file the first time, Talukdar had made a second application. The police, he said, demanded money again.

S o earlier t his month, Talukdar finally wrote to Chief Justice AK Goel, requesting him to legalise bribe, so his conscience would be clear while paying for something the police were duty-bound to do.

“I had produced all documents sought for verification, but the police demanded a bribe. I refused to pay. Since files do not move unless one pays a bribe, it should be legalised,” he wrote to Goel. Refusal or inability to grease palms forced many Hajjis miss out on the pilgrimage to Mecca, he further added.

Soon after the letter reached the court, officers of the local police station visited Talukdar and apologised for the harassment he had to face.

“We will try to ensure that such things do not happen in future,” said district police chief VR Singh.