2 sisters in Haryana who were going in to apply for a passport were turned away because the officials thought they ‘looked Nepali’.
While talking to NDTV, one of the sisters said,
When we went to the passport office at Chandigarh, they saw our faces and wrote that we are Nepali. They asked us to prove our nationality.
Following this incident, they went to Minister Anil Vij, after which the process of making the passports started. Ambala Deputy Commissioner said,
One person named Bhagat Bahadur went with his daughters Santosh and Henna to the passport office Chandigarh for the passport. There they have denied passport and wrote ‘applicant seems to be Nepali’ on their documents.
Haryana: 2 sisters from Ambala who went to apply for passports,in Chandigarh were refused by officials allegedly on grounds of appearance. Ambala Dy Commissioner says,”Office wrote ‘seems to be Nepali’ & returned them.We intervened in the matter&they’ll soon get passports”.(1.1) pic.twitter.com/lwkLOWysa3
— ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2020
Following this, he also added,
I have taken cognizance of this as soon as it came to my notice and after my intervention both the sisters were called by the Passport office and now their passport will reach them very soon.
Action will now be taken against the offending officers pending an investigation.
