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Passport to trouble |
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By: Chetan R |
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Date:
2009-08-19 |
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Place: Bangalore |
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A three-year-old boy has been issued a passport without an all-important official signature.
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Forgot to sign? Mushtaq Ahmed Mulla | Mohammed Sabhi Mulla (3) holds a passport issued by the Bangalore passport office, but it could land his parents in serious police trouble.
"It's negligence," said Mushtaq Ahmed Mulla, a software engineer and Sabhi's father. "We would have been harassed had we flown abroad with this."
The family isn't sure if it can take the child along.
The trouble
It all began when Mushtaq Ahmed Mulla decided to take his family to Malaysia on August 23. They applied for Sabhi's passport on June 15.
"Meeting an officer is so difficult, after we had spent seven days making repeated visits, they asked me to apply for a passport under the Tatkal scheme," he told MiD DAY.
The family realised the signature problem when it approached a travel agency for visas. Holders of flawed passports may be detained, imprisoned or fined on charges of travelling with an invalid passport, an expert told MiD DAY.
"The family may be detained abroad, even if the authorities here clear them," said B A Amarnath, managing director of Matha Air Travels.
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His son Mohammed's passport, with the official signature missing |
No hurry
Passport officials are reportedly in no hurry to rectify the error. "It's a lengthy process to reach the official concerned," said Mulla.
The official who forgot to sign said it could be a mistake.
"Usually it doesn't happen," said Vasant K Bhabad, superintendent, Regional Transport Office. "I'll be able to comment on it tomorrow." |
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