71-year-old woman held at airport for suspected dual citizenship

A 71-year-old woman was arrested at Mumbai airport for suspicion of having dual citizenship, violating Indian law. She had both an Indian and Nepalese passport.

MUMBAI: A 71-year-old woman was stopped at the airport by immigration authorities and handed over to the police on suspicion of having dual citizenship, which is not permitted under Indian laws.

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The woman, identified as B Chandrika Kumari from Kerala, was subsequently booked by Sahar police under IPC sections related to cheating for failing to declare that she had accepted Nepalese citizenship despite holding Indian citizenship. Apart from the Nepal passport she was travelling on, the woman was also found in possession of an Indian voter identity card and an Aadhaar card, which made the cops suspect that she had acquired foreign citizenship without giving up her original Indian citizenship.

According to the complaint registered by the immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Kumari was supposed to take a Nepal-bound flight scheduled to take off at 10.30 am. “Before boarding, she presented her Aadhaar card and boarding pass to the official at the counter. Since the Aadhaar card alone was not sufficient to let her on the flight, the officer asked her to provide another government-authorized identification document to be allowed on board,” informed an official from Sahar police. At this point, she presented a document that declared her to be a Nepalese citizen by marriage.

On further interrogation, she told the authorities that she had got married to a Nepalese citizen Ishwar Bahadur in 1974 when he was in India. After 10 years of marriage, he went back to Nepal along with their two children. She also said she eventually got married to a man from Kerala in 2004.

“The woman still kept in touch with her children. She would visit them regularly. She had got citizenship of Nepal in 2017 to make her travels to the country easier. Yet, she did not give up her Indian citizenship. Since the Indian government does not allow dual citizenship, this is seen as an emigration fraud,” said the policeman.

The immigration authorities informed the Sahar police of the case. While going through the belongings of the woman, police found her to be in possession of a voter identification card declaring her to be a citizen of India. Based on this, the police booked Kumari under Sections s 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.