A Norwegian tourist visiting the city ran into trouble after Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) authorities in Kochi asked her to immediately leave the country after it emerged that she participated in a protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the city early this week.
Janne-Mette Johansson, 71, a Norwegian citizen settled in Sweden, was in the city since December 12 and participated in the People’s Long March on Monday.
She was reportedly questioned for hours by immigration officials at the FRRO office at the Kochi airport on Thursday before they went to her hotel at Fort Kochi on Friday with a directive to immediately leave the country citing violation of visa norms.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Ms. Johansson said Bureau of Immigration officials showed up at her hotel again. “I was told to leave the country at once, or legal action would be taken. I asked for an explanation and also something in writing. I was told that 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,” it read.
Leaves for Sharjah
Shortly thereafter, she left for the Kochi airport after her friend arranged a ticket to Sharjah on an Air Arabia flight at 7.30 pm. She was to catch a flight to Sweden from there.
On reaching the Cochin International Airport, she was subjected to further interrogation for over two hours and her luggage was checked.
Asked whether she was deported or left on her own, a senior FRRO official said “she was asked to leave and she left”.
Queries about whether she was banned from entering the country in future were met with “no comments” from the FRRO authorities.
She eventually left for Sharjah.
Official stance
“It was a clear violation of the visa conditions. She cannot take part in any political activity while being here on tourist visa. She has been asked to leave the country immediately as per the Foreigners Act. No country in the world will let any foreign tourist to meddle in their affairs,” said a senior FRRO official.
Asked why the action comes almost four days after the march, the official said the agency had been after her ever since social media posts emerged about her participation.
Frequent visitor to India
It is learnt that Ms. Johansson, an avid traveller and a frequent visitor to India, had dropped in at the Fort Kochi police station on the day of the protest seeking to know whether she could participate in it.
“We had sent her back with instructions to approach immigration officials since they were the designated authority in the matter,” said an officer at the Fort Kochi police station.
Facebook post
Ms. Johansson had made a Facebook post about her enthusiastic participation in the protest march with hashtags #UnitedNotAlone, #BoycottNRC, and #RejectCAA.
“This afternoon I participated in a protest march; People’s Long March. It started out from Gandhi Circle Ernakulam, and we marched with slogans and flags to Vasco da Gama Square Cochin, while the protesters were singing and chanting with their fists up. The People’s Long March was well organised…No riots, just people determined…lifting up their voices, saying what has to be said. The police helpful during this protest march,” her Facebook post on December 23 read.
