Patna: An orphan has been found begging on the streets of Bihar for days to collect enough money to be given as “bribe” to the local police.
Vivek Kumar, 10, who hails from Chehrakalan village in Vaishali district, recently approached local police to report encroachments on his lands, which were grabbed by influential villagers. He received the biggest shock when the official in-charge of the local police station allegedly demanded Rs10,000 (Dh554) as bribe.
Too poor to make both ends meet, and with his parents deceased, the boy has been seeking alms from passersby, and saying he would pass the money on to police.
With placards hanging from his neck and a utensil in hand to safely keep the money, the boy can be seen begging on the streets.
The placard reads “I am an orphan. Please help me with contribution money to be paid to the local thana [police] in-charge as bribe.”
The incident has come as a huge embarrassment to the ruling Nitish Kumar government which claims to have declared a war on corruption.
On Friday, the boy was begging near the office of the local district magistrate, which caught the attention of officials.
They hurriedly called the boy and his caretaker and assured help.
“We have taken the matter seriously and justice will be delivered to the boy,” the local district magistrate Sarv Narayan Yadav told the media on Saturday. He also ordered an inquiry into the matter and officials assigned the probe task had been told to submit the report soon. The local district superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar said severe punitive action would be initiated against the police officer if the bribe charges proved true.
A similar incident came to light in November last year, when a minor boy was forced to beg on the streets of Madhepura district after a private hospital refused to release his mother after she failed to pay massive hospitals bills.
She was finally released after the local parliamentarian Pappu Yadav stepped in.
Lalti Devi had been admitted to a local government hospital in Madhepura, complaining of stomach ache.
Doctors referred her to a local private hospital, terming her case serious.
The second hospital also did not treat the woman and referred her to a private nursing home in Patna, saying she needed to be operated on to remove a dead foetus.
Doctors at the third hospital operated upon the woman and removed the foetus, but handed her a medical bill of Rs70,000 (Dh3,880).
As the family was unable to pay the bill at a time, the patient was detained at the hospital and doctors refused to remove her stitches although the wounds had healed.
The story of the poor woman detained by hospital authorities came to light after local media broke the story, describing how her seven-year-old son Kundan Kumar had been seeking alms from villagers so his mother could return home.
By the time Yadav came to her help, the boy had collected Rs13,000 as donations.
