Indian literacy worker deported from Paris

Paris: An Indian literacy worker, Kamal Hussain, was deported from Paris airport while on transit here on Friday.
His colleague, Dinesh Mishra, was allowed to board the Air Canada flight to Toronto. The two were on their way to Toronto to attend a fundraising event and literacy training programme organised by the Canadian NGO World Literacy. The two carried identical travel documents with valid Canadian visas issued in Delhi.
The Hindu has learnt that instead of contacting the Indian embassy to verify Mr. Hussain’s passport details, the French police preferred a summary deportation and he was placed on the Air France flight bound for Delhi on Saturday morning. It is presumed he spent the night at the Charles de Gaulle airport in police custody. The reasons for doubting his identity or the authenticity of his travel documents have not been communicated to the Indian embassy.
Indian Ambassador Ranjan Mathai had already been contacted by World Literacy when this correspondent spoke to him on Saturday morning. At that point the French police were saying they had no trace of Mr. Hussain. Later the explanation given for his deportation was that “the passport was illegible.”
Mr. Mathai said that had the French police contacted his office on Friday when Mr. Hussain was denied permission to board the Air Canada flight, he would have sent an embassy official to help police with their enquiries. The embassy was neither informed nor consulted over the decision to deport Mr. Hussain.
16/11/08 Vaiju Naravane/The Hindu

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008, Foreign Nov 2008