Reddit Viral Post: What should have been a simple and official police verification turned into a scary and uncomfortable experience for a 26-year-old woman living alone in Hyderabad. She shared her ordeal on Reddit, and it quickly went viral. The young woman had applied for a passport renewal. Everything was going smoothly until it was time for the police verification. "I (F26) was thinking a lot while penning this down, and now I’m here! So I had to renew my passport with the latest photo and details, and then came the police verification bit, which was a petrifying one, I must say!"

That's when things started to feel off. She shared on Reddit that a policeman called her one evening, "Last evening I received a call from the policeman asking if I’m available to come to the police station with a male companion. I do late evening shifts, so naturally I denied stating that I’m only available during mornings." The next day, to her surprise, the cop showed up early in the morning at her apartment. "The next morning, this policeman calls and says that he’s at my residence. I currently live alone and just woke up to that call. However, I was very much prepared for it, but my only mistake - I was alone in my apartment. The policeman comes, verifies my details, certificates, and checks pay slips to confirm my work address," she wrote in the post.

The policeman started making personal remarks during the verification. She wrote, he said things like, “You look good,” and “What you wear looks good." And just to be clear, she mentioned that she was wearing a long robe over her dress, which was not revealing at all. Even though she ignored those comments to avoid conflict, the situation got worse when the cop, while leaving, said, “I’ll keep calling you.” She admitted, “Trust me, I lost it!! I lost it when he said that!!” However, she stayed composed and firmly but politely told him not to contact her again. The officer eventually left.

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She ended her Reddit post saying, "If you are a female who lives alone, please be prepared and have someone (preferably a male companion) with you for a brief amount of time until the police verification goes on. I know I’m not sounding like a feminist here, but in India, to get things done, you need to be very, very prepared."

Watch The Viral Post:

My Passport verification experience in Hyderabad
byu/HandEnvironmental426 inhyderabad

The post was shared by the handle ‘HandEnvironmental426’ and quickly caught attention online. Many users were shocked and angry. Some advised her to file a formal complaint, while others raised serious concerns about women’s safety in such situations. One user wrote, "Please write to the Passport Regional Office in Secunderabad..They respond superbly well. I had a much more serious issue. Last time it was Baliah, sir, but now it's Ms. Snehaja, who is the Chief. It would help someone else, and honestly, much better for a solution than Reddit."

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"Taking a bribe is a legal offence since you got his GPay as evidence, he might be foolish to trouble you since you are staying alone, put some hidden camera on the front entrance door so in any case you can use it," a second user added. "I too faced a similar situation earlier during my background verification. There were many incidents that were happening in the background that didn't come into light," added another user.