New Delhi: British lawmaker Debbie Abrahams had seen the email sent to her by the Bureau of Immigration, which conveyed that her visa was rejected on 14 February, but she still chose to board the flight, ThePrint has learnt from sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“We checked our system and found that she had seen the email that was sent to her Friday itself, and yet she chose to board the flight to India from the UK Monday. We have a system to check if the person concerned has checked the email sent to her or not,” a source said.
“This is the reason why despite tweeting the copy of the visa that she was granted earlier, Abrahams is tightlipped on the email that the Indian authorities sent her well in advance regarding the revocation of the same,” the source added.
Abraham had tweeted an image of the visa document that showed a stamp of the Bureau of Immigration and said it would remain valid until October 2020.
This is the e-visa I was issued with by the Indian authorities. pic.twitter.com/QLwJhwFz3d
— Debbie Abrahams MP (@Debbie_abrahams) February 18, 2020
Government sources added that Abrahams’ visa was rejected on account of her “indulging in activities which went against India’s national interest”.
Abrahams chairs a UK parliamentary group focused on Kashmir, and has been a critic of the Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile state.
She had arrived in New Delhi on an Emirates flight from Dubai, but was denied entry into India upon her arrival after her visa was found to be “invalid”. She had originally boarded a flight from Manchester, and had a layover in Dubai. She was deported to the UK Monday.
ThePrint has reached Abrahams for a comment, and is awaiting a response.
Also read: UK MP visa row: Modi govt intolerant or must engage with global critics on CAA, Kashmir?
‘Couldn’t have made personal visit on business visa’
Home ministry sources said Abrahams was issued an e-business visa on 7 October 2019, which was valid until 5 October 2020, to attend business meetings.
It was, however, revoked on 14 February 2020 after it was found that she indulged in activities that were against India’s national interest, a source claimed.
“Grant, rejection, revocation of visa or an electronic travel authorisation is the sovereign right of any country. Her visa was revoked and she was intimated about it on 14 February,” the source said. “There is no provision of ‘visa on arrival’ for UK nationals at the airport.”
The source further clarified that Abrahams would anyway have been in violation of the rules if the visa had been valid, since a business visa cannot be used for personal visits, such as visiting family and friends.
“A separate visa request has to be made,” the source said.
Contents of the email
The communication that was sent to Abrahams on 14 February mentions that her application has been “rejected”.
The document, a copy of which is with ThePrint, says Abrahams “may be eligible for a regular visa”, and she should either visit the nearest Indian mission for assistance, or apply for the same online.
“The mail also mentions that in case she needs any assistance, she should get in touch with authorities on the mentioned email,” an officer said.
“She not only ignored that email after reading it, but is now insisting that she had a valid visa,” the officer said, adding they could have helped if Abrahams had sent a communication or contacted the Indian High Commission.
“There are many such cases in which visa is revoked, but then when applicants contact us, we try to help them in the best possible way. Now, if you ignore a communication by the Indian authorities and still travel, there will be no other option but to deport the person,” the officer said.
Also read: Another Congress spat in the offing? Tharoor, Singhvi differ over British MP’s deportation
Like some UK MPs she is consistently against India. Yet she wants to travel to India. Such patronizing attitude comes from the colonial era. These people are paid by lobbies for partisan politics. Justice Human rights are just fronts for justification. They need to be called out. Good for her she is against India. But She cannot have it both ways!
Good that Indian govt is taking a stand. India should be more careful of these proxies who are in abundance. they should be called out.
She is a typical low-life politician. She knew very well that her visa was cancelled. She still landed in India and got deported in order to create some media buzz and score some brownie points with her voter base in her constituency. Nothing more than a political stunt, which the anti-national leftist Indian media has made a mountain out of.