Faith transcended all boundaries for Zoia when she embarked on the spiritual journey from St Petersburg to the Amarnath cave in August last year
For 41-year-old Russian Bonetekia Zoia, it is freedom at last. Zoia had embarked on a spiritual journey to the abode of Lord Shiva at the Holy Amarnath cave in search of Zoia and world peace. Zoia, a mother of two, has been deported to Russia after serving one-year sentence for illegally entering the Valley.
Faith transcended all boundaries for Zoia when she embarked on the spiritual journey from St Petersburg to the Amarnath cave in August last year. Luck, however, was not on her side. She was arrested by the police near Domeal Sonamarg last year and charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. Four months later, Zoia, a practising Hindu, was sentenced to one-year jail by a trial court.
Though there was a bail provision, she could not get it as nobody in Kashmir was ready to stand surety for her.
“I could have bailed her out during the course of trial. But nobody stood surety. Later, we confessed, and, on that basis, she was convicted. Her sentence expired on August 24. But she was released only on November 23. It was a lapse on the part of the government. They bought time to make arrangements for her deportation,” Umar Rashid Wani, Zoia’s counsel, told DNA.
Superintendent of Kot Bhalwal Jail, Jammu, Dinesh Sharma, told DNA that she was lodged under the Public Safety Act (from August 24 to November 23) to make arrangements for her deportation.
“Later, she got clearance and she was handed over to the Russian embassy,” he said. Zoia converted to Hinduism a few years ago and started her spiritual journey from Pushupatinath temple in Nepal to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand. Amarnath shrine was the next destination. But before she could visit the cave shrine to take a darshan of the Holy Lingam, police arrested her near Sonamarg. “Her entire journey was for moksha and world peace,” said Umar. Zoia, according to her counsel, lost her passport in Nepal and entered India on an ID card. Later, she visited Kedarnath temple and took the Manali-Leh-Sonamarg route for Amarnath yatra.
“However, she was not allowed in the cave. She protested and there was a tussle, in the melee, she lost her ID card. She could not prove her identity and the police were trying to arrest her but she ran away and spent a night at Domeal. A day later, she was arrested,” said Umar.
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 "Bonetekia Zoia")
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