Immigration official ‘harasses’ woman, suspended
The immigration officer, Vinod Kumar, allegedly asked the woman some sexually explicit questions while checking her passport and other travel documents after she reached Delhi from Bangalore on her way to Hong Kong on March 18.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended an assistant immigration officer at Delhi’s IGI airport and initiated disciplinary actions against him after a Bangalore woman accused him of “verbally sexually” harassing her.
The immigration officer, Vinod Kumar, allegedly asked the woman some sexually explicit questions while checking her passport and other travel documents after she reached Delhi from Bangalore on her way to Hong Kong on March 18.
The woman alleged that the immigration officer asked many “unpleasant and private” questions while clearing the decks at the immigration counter.
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“He asked me that whether I am ready to give birth to a third child,” the 33-year-old woman told The Indian Express.
Questions like “How many children do you have? Do you drink? Do you smoke? Do you eat chicken? Have you done surgery for birth control? Why are you going to Hong Kong, to have fun with your husband or anyone else?
Will you have fun with me?” were asked she said. “What was more disgusting and uncomfortable was that the official followed me along the travelator, between domestic and international transfer.”
“I asked him to ask those questions once again in front of my husband, when I spotted him while filing a complaint on my return on March 23,” the woman said.
She said that Alok Kumar Verma, an Assisstant Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, at airport did not receive her complaint and asked her to file the complaint online. Later, her father-in-law filed a complaint via email with the concerned authorities, she said.
Taking cognizance of the incident, the Home Ministry has placed the immigration officer under suspension with immediate effect and ordered a departmental inquiry.
Source:: Indian Express
