A Norwegian tourist, Janne-Mette Johansson has become the second foreigner in a week to face expulsion from India for participating in protests against the Citizenship Law, reports the PTI news agency.
Johansson said on Friday the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in the southern city of Kochi has asked her to leave the country immediately or face deportation.
The FRRO, which regulates visits by foreign nationals to India, said Johansson “was being asked to go home because she violated visa norms”.
The 74-year-old Norwegian tourist was summoned by the FRRO on Thursday 26 December for questioning regarding her presence at an anti-CAA protest in Kochi on 23 December.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Johannson said an immigration officer came to her hotel and said he would not leave until he saw a ticket in her hand.
“A couple of hours back the Bureau of Immigration showed up at my hotel again. I was told to leave the country at once, or legal actions would be taken. I asked for an explanation and also something in writing. I was told I would not get anything in writing. The officer from the Bureau is not leaving me before he can see that I have a flight ticket. Now pretty soon, on my way to the airport. A friend fixing a flight ticket to Dubai and from there catching a flight back home to Sweden,” she said in a now deleted facebook post.
Norwegian Tourist Janne-Mette Johansson, facing expulsion over CAA protest, said in a facebook post. pic.twitter.com/ijl359dZvs
— Shweta Sharma (@Ss22Shweta) December 27, 2019
An inquiry was undertaken over her Facebook post in which she described the protests.
“This afternoon I participated in a protest march; People’s Long March. It started out from Gandhi Circle Eranakulam, and we marched with slogans and flags to Vasco da Gama Square Cochin, while the protesters were singing and chanting and with their fists up,” Johansson had said in her post.
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests continue to rage across India, some of them turning violent and resulting in vandalism, destruction and arson. Over 20 people have died and hundreds have been injured during protests so far.
The controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 seeks to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants from six religious minorities – Hindus, Parsis, Jains, Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they arrived in India before 2015. But it explicitly excludes this privilege to Muslims from these countries, which antagonists of the law say is discriminatory and against the Constitution of India.
