Pak woman forges documents to get US visa to find her husband.
Pak woman forges documents to get US visa to find her husband.
MUMBAI: A Pakistani woman acquired a fake Indian passport and changed her identity in her desperation to go to the US to track down her husband, who has been “missing” for the past seven years.
Yasmin Maknojia, 35, was sentenced to six months of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs2,000 by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court at Esplanade on Monday. She was convicted under sections 34 (acts done by several persons), 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable document), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a fake document) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 12(a) of the Indian Passport Act 1950. The court has also directed the police to return her air ticket and Pakistani passport, and take the requisite steps to deport her.
According to the Crime Branch detectives, Maknojia and her 13-year-old son, Sahil Ali, were detained at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on August 14, for travelling to the US under a fake Indian passport made out to Asha Parekh.
During interrogation, Maknojia revealed that her husband, Aziz, was a top executive with a US firm, and had not contacted her for the past seven years. After failing to get a US visa on a Pakistani passport, she was informed by “agents” to procure an Indian passport to apply for a visa. Maknojia came to India in August to stay with her parents at Mira Road, while her “Indian” passport was being processed.
“My client has expressed her willingness to plead guilty voluntarily,” said Suhas Gaikwad, defence lawyer. “She wants to return to Karachi to be with her son, who has taken seriously ill.”
Ashok Solanki, a passport agent based at Bandra, who was also arrested, is out on bail. Alluddin Kadiwal, who is Maknojia’s distant relative, has been remanded to judicial custody.
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