Bina's spouse's passport eaten up by rats

Megha Suri & Abhinav Garg / TNN / Mar 30, 2007, 01:30 IST

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In a shocking instance of sarkari callousness, the passport of Bina Ramani's husband, George Mailhot, was chewed up by rats.

Bina's spouse's passport eaten up by rats

NEW DELHI: In a shocking instance of sarkari callousness, it transpires that the passport of Bina Ramani's husband, George Mailhot, was chewed up by rats while it was with the special investigation team of Delhi Police, forcing an angry Bina to approach Delhi High Court for compensation and an inquiry into this bizarre episode.
The passport was given to SIT at Qutab Institutional Area in the first week of February."My daughter Malini was flying to Dubai and as per the court order, me and my husband were supposed to submit our passports, along with a bond of Rs 5 lakh, to the SIT," she told TOI.
As her passport was already with a city court in connection with another case, Mailhot's passport was given to then SIT Assistant Commissioner of Police M K Sharma.
Bina, whose testimony was the basis for the conviction of Jessica Lal's killer and his accomplices, is distraught by this unnecessary harassment. Mailhot is a Canadian national. So, Ramani the Times Hero of 2006 has asked the court to direct the police to assist Mailhot in getting a fresh passport, and pending that, help get his visa extended.

After the Jessica Lal case was settled, and it was apparent the family had no intention of fleeing the country as suggested by the SIT, the court removed all travel restrictions on it on March 2. On March 18, the family filed an application, asking the police to release the passport. Four days later, Bina Ramani says she was called by the cops, but the passport was not returned to her.
"The police finally called me today and said the passport has been chewed up by rats and they will help us get another one. How can the police be so careless about an important document? It seems they kept it only to feed it to the rats," she asks.

In her application filed in the court of Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed, Bina has sought an inquiry "into the circumstances under which the passport was destroyed and the reasons for delaying handing over the same" and compensation for the same.
Bina feels she is still being victimised. "Though the case against us is over now, and we have done our best to help, this harassment is just not ending. My husband was planning to travel to Canada to meet his family in the next week or so. All his visas were in the passport," she said.
megha.suri@timesgroup.com & abhinav.garg@timesgroup.com

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