Baijunath Chaudhary, 28, was arrested on September 9 last year by the Delhi Police at Indira Gandhi International Airport upon arrival from Kathmandu. He was falsely charged with holding fake picture on the passport and was put behind bars. Police claimed that the “picture on his passport did not match his real face.”
On Friday, the Tis Hazari Court in New Delhi released him after making him pay a bail amount of IRs 30,000.
Chaudhary, who hails from Parsa district in Nepal, has left for his hometown on Saturday afternoon itself.
“In this State vs. Baijunath Chaudhary case, the accused has been falsely blamed for having fake passport photograph. Whereas the picture clearly shows that it is his own photo,” Nanda Sharma, the Delhi High Court advocate fighting for Chaudhary, told Republica.
She added, “This is pure harassment and nothing more by the Indian police on our innocent Nepali brother.”
Sharma informed that the case is being fought under sections 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code for “cheating and dishonesty”. According to Section 468 on Forgery for purpose of cheating, whoever commits forgery, intending that the government document or electronic record forged shall be used for cheating, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
On the unfortunate day September 9, Chaudhary along with 10 other Nepali men was destined to Dubai from Kathmandu via Delhi. He was going to Dubai as a migrant laborer.
After release on Friday, repeated attempts by Republica to contact Chaudhary failed. Family sources said that Chaudhary is too traumatized to offer any comment to the media over the issue for “he went through traumatic days in the jail” fighting for a crime he did not commit. Chaudhary was handed over to his father Friday, who came to Delhi soon after the arrest.
Many Nepalis traveling to India have met with similar fate of late. Just last year at least seven Nepalis have been rescued on bail who were held falsely on charges of passport forgery and cheating.
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