People travel in various parts of the world for many reasons and travelling experiences are always notable whether it’s good or bad. Sometimes we are in a hurry to go somewhere and things go wrong in a way that gets out of control. One such incident happened on Mumbai Airport with a chef of a cruise liner, Mr Kishore Shimpi 43-year-old, when he came to know about his son’s accident. Let’s see where this incident took place and what happened.
As soon as Mr Shimpi got the news about his sons’ head injury in a serious accident, he rushed back to India from Mexico. But unfortunately, Mr Shimpi returned back all beaten up, humiliated by the immigration officer who apparently stamped the wrong date on his passport. He was at a far distance from his beloved son and he wanted eagerly to be there with his son so much that he urgently began to look for a way to return to his family in Mumbai.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”] In this harsh situation time was a barrier for him as he was still in Mexico and there were no direct flights heading to Mumbai from there, so he had to follow the long route via Paris to catch another flight. He was certainly not in the mood of entering into the argument with the immigration officials. But he had to suffer an insensitive behaviour at the airport.
Talking about his situation and in that case the exploitation he faced from immigration officials while returning back to Mumbai he said, “My son met with an accident, and I was desperate to rush back to Mumbai, but instead I was assaulted, abused and detained for pointing out an error made by an immigration staff at the counter,”
Mr Shimpi’s 19-year-old Tushar met with an accident on his bike. He got a serious head injury as he was not wearing a helmet. Recalling about “I was the first to leave the aeroplane the moment it reached Mumbai airport and I ran towards the immigration area for the required clearance. It had been a long journey for me without any break, and I was completely exhausted,” he recalled.
When he reached to the Mumbai airport and ran towards the immigration area for the required clearance. He was in a hurry to finish his formalities at immigration section, as his flight from Paris (Jet Airways flight 9W 123) arrived at 8.15am, he did not notice that the officials had wrongly stamped on his passport .Mr. Shimpi’s passport clearly shows the mistake done by an immigration officer. The date of entry instead of March 1 is stamped as February 28.
It was only when he reached the exit point another Immigrations staffer pointed out the error. He was told to go back to the same counter and ask for the correct stamp though he was not he only one facing the problem. There were four or five more passengers who had also gone to the same counter number 21, and they too had the same problem.
He, with his diverted mind to his son, just wanted to finish the formality and leave the airport to be with his family. It had been a long journey was completely exhausted. “The senior immigration officer asked all of us to go back to the Counter number 21 and get the correct date stamp affixed, and the officer even asked a junior to escort us there,” said Mr Shimpi.
Hence, all of them again went to counter No 21, Deepak Chavan, the Immigration constable had affixed the wrong stamp. After all, this the issue should have been stopped by putting up the right stamp but matter took an ugly turn when the junior staffer began to joke with Chavan. Mr Shimpi obviously could not handle the situation as he had an urgency to reach to his son. Mr Shimpi lost his temper when the junior at the counter joked about the date that it was not February 28 but February 2. “Kay re Zopa kadtai ka tumhi lok (Are you guys dozing?), today is March 1” said Mr Shimpi in Marathi. On hearing this, the immigration staffer came towards him in a rage of anger and screamed, ‘Koop mota jalas ka tu baher gaavi javun (Have you become too big after visiting foreign country).”
This situation turned worst and the row kept getting dirtier when other immigration staffers turned up and held him, after which Chavan was easily able to land punches on Mr Shimpi. He alleged, “I was abused, beaten up and humiliated by the immigration staffers like I was a third-grade criminal.” When the situation went out of control few armed CISF personnel took Shimpi to their office. “I pleaded with them to release me; asked them to keep my passport but allow me to go to my son in the hospital, but my request went unheard. By then, I had already wasted two and half hours after landing,” said Shimpi.
An airport doctor was summoned to examine whether he was under the influence of alcohol, and Shimpi was certified sober. Then some immigration staffers took him to the senior officer’s cabin. There, the CCTV footage from the incident was reviewed and Shimpi was found innocent.
After the senior officer realised that it was the junior colleagues’ fault he asked Mr Shimpi to forget what had happened and assured disciplinary action against the errant staffer and also returned his passport with the right date stamp. Mr Shimpi’s time had already been wasted so he then decided to lodge a written complaint against the same. He also registered a non-cognisable complaint against the staffer at Sahar police station.
Shimpi could finally leave the airport in the afternoon, and rushed to the hospital in Kalyan, where he learnt that his 19-year-old son, Tushar, had been brought out of the ICCU. “He is yet to respond and we are praying for his speedy recovery,” said Shimpi.
Hours after his complaint, Immigrations officials went to the police station to lodge a cross-complaint, but this time, the cops registered an FIR. An official from Sahar police station said, “After the passenger registered an NC and left, the Immigration officials came to register FIR against the passenger around 4 pm. An FIR was registered against the passenger under IPC Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult).” Cops said they would have to view the CCTV footage to confirm what had happened.
Shimpi is more worried about his son than the FIR. “I was not aware of the FIR but I was the first to lodge a complaint. My priority is to be with my son. I have done nothing wrong and all the facts are in the CCTV footage. The immigration staffer had no reason to leave the counter and abuse a passenger,” he added. Shimpi’s wife Manisha was unaware of the incident at the airport until he spoke up about it. “My son met with a serious accident on Saturday and has swelling and clotting in his brain. Initially, I did not inform my husband, but on Sunday morning, I had to tell him, and he returned to India immediately,” she said.
Some incidents may look to be simple but if not controlled properly may lead to serious consequences. Same situation happened with Mr Shimpi might happen with anybody. We have to be careful when we travel. Don’t keep quiet about such issues. Speak out about them because this will lead to changing the world. Please leave your valuable comments on this issue.
Source: MID-DAY
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