Haryana sisters denied passport over ‘Nepalese’ looks

Chandigarh: In a faux pas, two sisters from Haryana were denied passports by authorities in Chandigarh due to their “Nepalese” appearance.

With the intervention of state Home Minister Anil Vij, authorities have been asked to look into the reason for the denial of the visa to sisters Santosh and Heena. They belonged to Ambala, the home constituency of Vij.

They have been granted the documents and a probe is on to find out the reasons for the denial of passport initially on the basis of their “Nepali appearance”, a senior passport official here told IANS.

He said Regional Passport Officer Sibash Kabiraj has directed to grant them the passport subject to pre-verification by the police.

“An inquiry has been ordered to look into who wrote the noting and suitable action will be initiated against the erring official,” he said.

Kabiraj was not available for comments despite repeated calls to his office.

One of the applicants, in her complaint to Vij, said when they went to the passport office in Chandigarh, they saw “our faces and wrote that we are Nepali.”

“They asked us to prove our nationality,” she said.

The minister asked Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Ashok Sharma, to take up their case appropriately.

Sharma said a few days ago the sisters along with their father Bhagat Bahadur had approached him. He said the passport office had summoned them and now their passports would be issued to them soon.

 Published on: Jan 2, 2020 at 17:49 IST

IANS