New Delhi: An incident of a Nepali citizen being stopped at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport while on her way to Berlin has been “wrongly portrayed” as discrimination, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Saturday, adding that Indian immigration authorities had no role to play in the matter.
“India values its strong relationship with Nepal and reassures that no Indian authority has any bias or discrimination against citizens of Nepal,” the ministry stated.
Shambhavi Adhikari, a citizen of Nepal headed to Berlin, was transiting through Delhi where she was stopped and sent back to Kathmandu. According to a statement issued by the MHA, she was not allowed to board a Qatar Airways connecting flight because the airline “decided not to let her undertake her onward travel to Germany considering her visa validity and flew her back to Kathmandu”.
This is usually done in accordance with the destination country’s rules or requirements, the MHA statement said, adding that Adhikari then rescheduled her travel dates and later took another route from Kathmandu.
“International transit passengers are not required to approach Indian Immigration for their onward journey and this is a matter between the airlines and the passenger with absolutely no role of Indian immigration authorities,” the ministry reiterated in its statement.
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