A 26-year-old woman from Punjab, Satveer Kaur, was arrested by immigration authorities after they discovered tampering with her passport. Kaur, who was trying to move to Toronto for a new job, became suspicious when officials spotted discrepancies in her travel documents.
Reports indicate that after studying in Canada for five years, Kaur had come to India to visit her family. However, as she prepared to fly back to Toronto for work, immigration officials discovered that the dates on her passport had been changed. The alteration is said to have been made to hide the actual date of her arrival in India from her family.
Authorities suspect that Satveer Kaur had altered her passport to hide a meeting with a male friend before leaving for her parents' home. talking Times of IndiaA police department spokesperson explained, “She said her parents were unaware of her visit on September 28. She was visiting her friend and did not want her parents to know.”
After investigation, Kaur was charged with cheating and forgery for tampering with her passport.
Earlier this year, there was an incident involving a 25-year-old student who tore off the pages of her passport in an attempt to conceal details of a trip to Thailand. Srishti Ghatole, a student, was all set to go to Singapore for an internship sponsored by her college in Worli. However, her plans were thwarted when immigration officials at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport discovered missing pages in her passport, prompting her immediate detention.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a police officer explained, “Her college was sending her to Singapore for an internship and she feared that she would lose the internship if the college came to know about her visit to Thailand. So she tore out the pages of her passport acknowledging her visit to Thailand.
Srishti had skipped her college exams citing illness. Assistant Immigration Officer Sujith Patil said her fear of being exposed prompted her to tamper with such an important travel document. Consequently, the student filed a case under Section 12 of the Passport Act and 318(4) (cheating and dishonesty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita.