TNN
PANAJI, Jun 3: A woman of Portuguese nationality found herself in deep trouble when she suppressed information about her nationality.
Besides, she furnished false data about her minor daughter to the passport authorities at Panaji. This was allegedly done to secure a passport for her minor daughter.
The Judicial Magistrate First Class, Panaji, has framed charges against Ana Maria Clarice Toscano, a Portuguese national, married to an Indian, for forging the thumb impression of her minor daughter. She has also been charged by the court for forging the documents with full knowledge and using it for the purpose of cheating. However, she has pleaded with the court that all allegations are false.
It is the prosecution's case that Ana had fraudulently obtained the passport of her minor daughter Nikita on March 12, 2003.
The prosecution held that Ana placed the impression of her right-hand little finger on the passport application, purported to be of her daughter, and produced the same before the passport authority at Panaji.
The police relied on the finger print test report received from the finger print bureau in Pune. The report revealed that the finger print in the name of the daughter on the front page of the passport application was actually the impression of the mother's right-hand little finger.
The police had taken finger print impressions of the mother and child and sent them for examination in May 2007. Now, the police have sent the 'finger tip' impressions of the child and the mother for examination.
The matter first came to light when Ana's estranged husband, Kapil Sheth, from Aquem, Margao, lodged a complaint with the Panaji police on May 23, 2005. The police arrested Ana on June 15, 2005, but she was released on bail the same day.
Kapil in his complaint to the police had alleged that Ana, without informing him, had unilaterally applied for an Indian passport issued as per the Passport Act, 1967, for their daughter.
He also alleged that Ana had forged documents to make their daughter's passport and had taken the minor to Dubai for three months on the forged passport, without informing the father. He also alleged that Ana had suppressed her nationality, status of marriage and that she was a single mother to get a passport for her daughter.