By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: An international-level Indian athlete’s dream came crashing down when he was prevented from appearing in an international event following denial of passport to him by the Regional Passport Office, (RPO).
The RPO did not issue passport, the requisite document to travel abroad, to long-distance runner Anoop Kumar Dey when a Head Constable assigned to verify the antecedents of Dey submitted a false “verification” report following athlete’s refusal to grease his palms as per his demands.
Following a complaint from the athlete, the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission, (MPHRC), recommended a Departmental Enquiry, (DE), against the head constable concerned and interim relief of Rs. 5,000 to the victim.
Dey, the international athlete hailing from Bhopal, who had attained certificates in marathon and half-marathons organized in Pune, Chandigarh, Delhi and Allahabad, applied for a passport at the Bhopal Regional Passport Office in 2005. He was wishing to run from Kolkata to Dhaka, Bangladesh in January 2006 to spread the message of Subhash Chandra Bose. The West Bengal Government was reportedly providing financial assistance to the man for a noble cause.
However, the application for passport was rejected as the police verification report submitted by the Bagh Sevania police personnel claimed a criminal case was pending against the applicant with the District Court. Later, when the athlete enquired from the Regional Passport Office, he got acquainted about the issue.
He had lodged a complaint with the MPHRC on April 5, 2007 against the head constable Ramsiya posted with Bagh Sevania police station. The Commission sought a report from the Bhopal Superintendent of Police who in turn submitted the report on August 27, 2007.
A full bench of MPHRC comprising chairman DM Dharmadhikari, Justice NS Azad and Vijay Shukla summoned the cop concerned. The head constable submitted his explanation before the Commission on March 4, 2008.
On hearing the case, the Commission eventually recommended interim relief of Rs. 5,000 to the victim and commencement of DE against the head constable. The MPHRC also recommended to recover the relief amount, wholly or partly, from the cop and apprise it of the Action-Taken Report, (ATR), within three months.
Dey has confirmed that the head constable demanded Rs. 500 for discharging his duties and when only Rs. 200 was paid against the demand, the cop submitted the false report preventing him from running to Dhaka from Kolkata. ([email protected])