Janne-Mette Johansson joined a protest against the amended Citizenship Act earlier this week.
Highlights
- Norwegian woman joined a protest against Citizenship Act in Kochi
- She said immigration officer "showed up" at her hotel
- A German IIT-Madras student was sent back for participating in a protest
A tourist from Norway, questioned recently after she shared photos on Facebook from protests against the citizenship law CAA, revealed on Friday in a post that she has been ordered to leave the country or face action. An officer from the Bureau of Immigration "showed up" at her hotel and would not leave until she bought a flight ticket home, Janne-Mette Johansson wrote on Facebook.
The Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has confirmed that the tourist was asked to leave the country for visa violation.
Earlier this week, a German student of IIT-Madras was sent back for participating in anti-citizenship law protests on campus.
"A couple of hours back the Bureau of Immigration showed up at my hotel again. I was told to leave the country at once, or legal actions would be taken. I asked for an explanation and also something in writing. I was told I would not get anything in writing," Janne-Mette Johansson said in her Facebook post, which has now been deleted.
She has deleted her Facebook post.
"The officer from the Bureau is not leaving me before he can see that I have a flight ticket. Now pretty soon on my way to the airport. A friend fixing a flight ticket to Dubai and from there catching a flight back home to Sweden," she shared.
The tourist was questioned after she posted photos from a protest she had joined in Kochi, Kerala. She was told her participation in the protests was a "violation of Visa norms".
In a post this morning, she said she would not post any more about her India travels and was logging off. "I will not be posting more on FB during my travelling in beautiful India. I thank you all for having followed me on my journey. But now a time to be private. I also want you all to know that I am alright. Still in Cochin, but when I know the time is right for me, I will be on my way to Delhi. Just informing you so you don't worry. I thank you all, goodbye my friends! (sic)" she wrote.
"Our enquiry found she has violated visa norms and so she was asked to go back," said the FRRO, Kochi.
Janne-Mette Johansson caught the attention of the authorities with a Facebook post on Monday. "The People's Long March was very well organized. No riots, just people determined... lifting up their voices, saying what has to be said. The police helpful during this protest march," she wrote, sharing photos that showed her holding up a protest poster.
Earlier this week, Jakob Lindenthal, a German post-graduate student of physics at the IIT or Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, flew to Amsterdam after trouble over his participation in anti-citizenship law protests in Chennai. He was asked to leave for violating his visa.
Massive protests against the CAA or Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the first-ever law to make religion a criteria for citizenship, have swept India. The government says the law will help non-Muslim migrants from three neighbouring nations become Indian citizens if they fled religious persecution and entered India before 2015. Activists, students, opposition parties and other protesters say the law discriminates against Muslims and is against the secular tenets of the constitution.