‘Survey ranking State as most corrupt based on data from city residents’

Most complaints on ‘I paid a bribe’ website were probably from Bengaluru where citizens are educated and aware of their rights: S.T. Ramesh

A former IPS officer has said that the survey that ranks Karnataka as the most corrupt State in India is based on the information collected from Bengaluru citizens, and that the “figures were too simplistic to arrive at a conclusion”.

‘I paid a bribe’, an initiative of the Bengaluru-based Janaagraha, a non-governmental organisation, found that more than 6,500 people had paid a bribe in Karnataka. The website said 7,143 complaints were reported against the Police Department between 2010 and 2014, and 265 officers reported as honest in the same period in the State. About 80 per cent of the reports on the ‘I paid a bribe’ website narrates incidents of bribery for petty offences like traffic violations and officials seeking bribe for passport verification, vehicle registration and issuing khata certificates.

However, S.T. Ramesh, a retired IPS officer, now with Janaagraha as ‘Janayukta’, a post in which ex-police officers engage with the organisation, while admitting that there is corruption in Karnataka and in the State’s Police Department, said a more detailed study is required. “The figures are too simplistic to arrive at a conclusion.” Justifying his comments, he pointed out that since Janaagraha is city-based, more people know of it here as compared to other cities. The survey is based on the complaints on the website. He also noted that most complaints were probably from Bengaluru where citizens are “independent, educated, aware of their rights and boldly criticise”.

Mr. Ramesh added that more number of complaints that there is more corruption. It only shows that people were emboldened to complain. He also said that since citizens’ interaction with the police is more than that of other departments, the opportunity to complain is more.