FIR Police and Post Offices

Recently I misplaced some important documents which included passbooks of various post office accounts. I inquired with the post office how I could get duplicate passbooks and I was told that I will have to file a FIR at the police station and obtain a NC from the police station. There was no other option I was told. When earlier I had misplaced my bank passbook, I just informed them and they gave me a new one and levied a small charge for that.

So I went to the police station to file a FIR and was told that I needed to go to a lawyer and get an affidavit on Rs. 100 non-judicial stamp paper which would have to be notarised. I went to a lawyer suggested by the constable and he charged me Rs. 300 to do the needful. I submitted the affidavit at the police station and they entered the complaint in their register and gave me a copy of the affidavit and asked me to go to one of their police chowkies to get the NC certificate. They refused to record the passbook for which I did not remember the account number and this became a problem for me. Anyway I went to the police chowky four times over two weeks and the concerned person was never found. I went back to the police station and they changed the name of the person I should contact. Two more trips and still I could not locate the appropriate person at the police chowky.

Frustrated I went back to the post office. At one post office the person handling the MIS accounts was considerate and agreed to issue the passbook against a copy of the affidavit, even though he made me make three trips to finally get it . They charged a fee of Rs. 10 for it. The other post office just refused outright until I produced the NC certificate. So I am still struggling with it.

This FIR and NC system is sheer harassment. The post office has all the id proof so why this harassing process. This needs to be changed. Where the police station is concerned people say that they will not give it till you grease palms. My contention is that if I make any payment I should receive a receipt. So this is a situation without a resolution. My next stop will have to be the highest authorities in the police hierarchy. Because our public systems work only by either bribing or using influence.

PS: Today I went back to the police station and met the inspector and told him point blank that it is one month and I have still not received the NC and inquired who was the next higher up I needed to talk to about this. He quickly ordered the sub-inpector to issue the NC immediately. So, another half hour wait and I got the document I needed. I thanked the sub-inspector who had an expectant look on his face while handing over the document. I took the document and waved it to the inspector and thanked him and walked out of  the police station.