Pakistani woman, her son held at Indo-Nepal border sans visa

While crossing the border through the Mechi River Bridge when SSB jawans of the 41 Battalion detained them.

MP, 16 Nov 2023, Siliguri: Kharibari Police arrested a Pakistani woman along with her 12-year-old child at the India-Nepal border in the Panitanki area for entering India illegally. They had no visa to enter India. 

The accused have been identified as Shayesta Hanif (63 years) and her son Mohammad Ariyan (12 years), both residents of Karachi, Pakistan. On Wednesday, they were crossing the border through the Mechi River Bridge when SSB jawans of the 41 Battalion detained them. SSB searched the detainees and recovered Pakistani passports, identity cards and travel visa of Nepal from them. 

SSB handed them over to Kharibari police in the evening. Thereafter, police arrested them. During interrogation, the woman told police that she originally belonged to Assam. A few years ago she went to Mumbai from Assam for a job and got married to a Pakistani man. 

Later, she shifted to Pakistan, where her husband worked as a goldsmith. Later, she was residing in Saudi Arabia with her husband and son. She had arrived in Nepal with her son on a tourist visa. 

On Thursday the woman was produced before Siliguri Court and the teenager was sent to Darjeeling Juvenile Court. The woman was remanded to seven days of police custody. Her lawyer claimed that her original name was Gauri Dey and she is from Silchar, Assam. 

Talking to media persons in the court premises, the arrested stated that she was entering India to go to Assam to visit her siblings. 

“I had applied for a visa for India for this from Dubai but was denied,” she stated. Praveen Prakash, the Superintendent of Darjeeling police said: “They both didn’t have visas to enter India. We have started an investigation into the incident.” 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/pakistani-woman-her-son-held-at-indo-nepal-border-sans-visa-540629