Norwegian national asked to leave India for participating in anti-CAA protest

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Dec 27, 2019:  A Norwegian tourist, who came under the scanner of the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) Thursday for participating in an anti-CAA protest on December 23 in Kerala, has been asked to leave the country immediately, Indian Express reported.

 

The FRRO, the regulatory body for registration, movement and stay of foreign nationals in India, confirmed this to indianexpress.com on Friday.

“Janne-Mette Johannson was asked to leave India because she violated visa rules by participating in a protest. She agreed to the same in the questioning yesterday and was intimated in person today to leave the country. She will be leaving today,” Kochi FRRO Anoop Krishnan said.

The 74-year-old, who is on a tourist visa, had reached Kochi on December 17. According to her Facebook post, Johansson participated in a march in Kochi by various organisations against the amended Citizenship Act on December 23.
On Facebook, Johansson, who is a former nurse, wrote, “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.”

She further alleged that the officer from the Bureau was not ready to leave her until she showed him her flight ticket. “Now pretty soon on my way to the airport. A friend fixing flight ticket to Dubai and from there catching a flight back home to Sweden.”

Hours after the FRRO’s notice to Johansson, she had posted on Facebook regarding her safety, saying, “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…”

This incident comes days after a German student in the Department of Physics at IIT Madras was asked to leave the country “immediately” for his participation in CAA, NRC protests in the campus on Monday.