Pati, Patni and Passport
#6 On offences related to travel
Hi tribe,
Remember sometime last month a man was arrested for hiding an international trip from his wife by tearing pages off his passport? It got me wondering what the offence really was. It couldn’t have been cheating on his wife – that’s not really a crime (only a valid excuse for divorce). So I started reading more into this person’s case and here is what I found..
The offence was not against his wife, but in fact the passport. This man flew back to India from a foreign trip and immigration officials at Mumbai airport noticed some pages from his passport missing. He was arrested for allegedly removing these pages from his passport to hide his recent visit. He was supposedly having an extra-marital affair and wanted to keep the same from his wife, but was unaware that tampering with a passport is actually a crime!
To my surprise, this was not an isolated incident!
Just last month, it was reported that another family was deported back to India from Mexico for travelling on damaged passports. The 36 year old man from Punjab, travelling with his wife and child, had torn the passports out of anger after an altercation with his wife and was not aware that it was a crime. He then had the passport stitched back together not realising that the cover page of his passport was stitched into his son’s and vice versa.
Before we go on to discuss offences related to passports, an important point to remember here is that ignorance of a law is no excuse. If you are being charged with a crime, your defence for it can’t be that you did not know what you were doing is a crime. As citizens, it is our responsibility to know what the laws of our country are.
What is the law related to maintenance of passports?
The primary law dealing with issuance and maintenance of passports in the Passport Act, 1967.
For cases of intentionally damaging passports, you can also be charged with the crime of cheating (Sec 420, Indian Penal Code) and forgery (Sec 465, Indian Penal Code).
How do I know if my passport is damaged?
The passport authorities in India classify damaged passport into two types:
Damaged passport where Passport number is readable, name is legible and photo is intact
Damaged beyond recognition
If your passport has been unintentionally damaged in either of the cases, you can apply for your passport to be re-issued.
In case your passport has not been damaged beyond recognition, i.e. passport number is legible, name is legible and photo is intact, then you can apply for re-issue of passport under the Tatkaal scheme. However, the final authority for the issuance of passport under the Tatkaal scheme lies with the passport office. But, if passport has been damaged beyond recognition, then you cannot apply under the Tatkaal scheme.
More on reissue of passports can be found on the Passport Seva portal here.
What are other crimes related to passports and foreign travel?
The Passport Act lists down certain things that are considered as crimes. These are as follows:
You cannot leave or even attempt to leave the country without a valid passport or a travel document.
You cannot provide false information or suppress any important information to obtain a passport or a travel document.
You cannot alter, attempt to alter entries made in a passport or a travel document.
You cannot refuse to give your passport if a passport authority or other relevant authority asks you to produce it for inspection.
You cannot knowingly use a passport or travel document issued to another person. You cannot knowingly allow someone else to use your passport either.
If you commit any of the above crimes, you can be punished with imprisonment up to two years and/or with a fine of Rs. 5,000.
Even if you have not committed any of the above offences, but helped someone successfully commit any of these acts, you can be punished the same as someone who committed the crime.
What about foreigners with fake Indian passports?
A foreigner who applies for an India passport or obtains a passport by suppressing their nationality or even holds a forged passport can be punished with imprisonment anywhere between one and five years and with fine anywhere between Rs. 10,000 and Rs, 50,000.
Do you have any questions that relate to travelling and law? Leave a comment and tell me about it. I’ll do my best to demystify these travel laws for you.
Before I sign off, here is another shameless plug to go follow me on Twitter. My handle is @KanooniBen
Until next time,
KB