New Delhi: A retired school teacher, who had to visit her twin grandsons in Malaysia, faced humiliation at the hands of immigration officials at the IGI Airport. She alleged that an immigration official tore her passport, which was loosely bound.
Jayanti Matoo (62), a resident of Ramprastha in Ghaziabad, reached IGI Airport on Wednesday at around 8.15 pm. She had a booking on the Air Asia flight for Malaysia.
“After seeing my loosely bound passport, Air Asia officials issued boarding pass and asked me to handle my passport with care. When I reached the immigration counter, an official raised question on my loosely bound passport and said that he couldn’t allow me to travel with a torn passport. I resisted and told him that my passport was not torn, but loosely bound. After hearing my argument, he asked me to wait for some time and told me that he needed to confirm about it with his seniors. He took my passport and other documents. Later, he came back and returned my passport. He asked me to approach the airline counter. where I would be assisted to board the flight,” said Ms Matoo.
She was running with a request to board the flight from one counter to another for hours, but was not allowed to board the flight. She had to return home. Her daughter-in-law raised the issue on social media and asked the ministry to look into the matter.
“I was shocked when the airline officials told me that I couldn’t board as my passport was torn. I requested them to allow me to board the flight, but they denied. I approached the immigrant official and was shocked when he spoke to me rudely,” she added.
She was running with her request from one counter to another for hours, but was not allowed to board the flight. She had to return home.
“I was shocked to see this inhumane act of the immigration official,” said Ms Matoo, who is now applying for a new passport to see her twin grandsons.
Her daughter-in-law raised the issue on social media sites and asked the concerned department and ministry to look into the matter.
