Typo puts man on no-fly list for two years

What’s in a name? A lot when it has a typographical error. Ulhasnagar resident Nilesh Ranani learned this the hard way when he was booked for cheating and forgery after a minor spelling mistake was found in an immigration document.
The Bombay High Court has finally granted relief to the beleaguered man who will finally be able to fly again.The judge said that the investigating agency is expected to act with care and circumspection before prosecuting anyone.
In July 2008, Nilesh was on his way to Nairobi by a Kenyan flight when an immigration assistant spotted a discrepancy in the resident card.
While all other documents spelt Nilesh’s father name as Har-esh, the resident card – issued by Guinea-Bissau Embassy in Mumbai – misspelt it as Hanesh.
Although the embassy confirmed that it was a typographical error, immigration officers lodged a complaint against Nilesh and eventually the Sahar Police Station booked him for cheating and forgery. He was arrested and had to spend four days in jail. Police also filed a charge sheet in the case.
Nilesh finally approached the HC in October 2009 to have the case quashed.
03/05/10 Bapu Deedwania/Mumbai Mirror

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Categories: Airports May 2010, Foreign May 2010