Punjab: 26-year-old faces charges over forged passport to cover travel history

A 26-year-old woman from Punjab, Satveer Kaur, was arrested by immigration authorities after they detected tampering with her passport. Kaur, who was attempting to travel to Toronto for a new job, raised suspicions when officials identified discrepancies in her travel documents.

Reports indicate that after spending five years studying in Canada, Kaur returned to India to visit her family. However, as he prepared to fly back to Toronto for work, immigration officials discovered that he had altered the dates on his passport. The modification was allegedly made to hide the actual date of his arrival in India from his family.

Authorities suspect Satveer Kaur altered her passport to hide a meeting with a friend before heading to her parents’ house. talking to The times of IndiaA police department spokesperson explained: “She said her parents were unaware of her arrival on September 28. She didn’t want her parents to find out because she had gone to meet her friend.”

After investigation, Kaur was charged with cheating and forgery for altering her passport.

Earlier this year, a comparable incident involved a 25-year-old student who attempted to conceal details of a trip to Thailand by tearing out pages from her passport. The student, identified as Shrishti Ghatol, would travel to Singapore for an internship sponsored by her university in Worli. However, his plans were thwarted when immigration officials at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport detected missing pages in his passport, leading to his immediate arrest.

Speaking to the Indian Express, a police officer explained: “Her university was going to send her to Singapore for an internship and she was afraid that if the university found out about her trip to Thailand, she might lose the internship. “He then tore up the pages of his passport acknowledging his trip to Thailand.”

Shrishti had skipped her college exams, citing illness as the reason. Sujit Patil, deputy immigration officer, said her fear of exposure led her to alter such an important travel document. Accordingly, the student was booked under section 12 of the Passport Act and section 318(4) (cheating and dishonesty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.