Hindu woman dons burqa to hide from mother, held at Delhi airport

NEWDELHI: A young woman “eloping” with the boyfriend and her mother hot on their heels created a security scare at the Delhi airport on August 15.

The drama unfolded when an alert security officer noticed a non-Muslim name on the boarding card of a burqa-clad woman during the security check.

The mismatch caused an alarm as the Indira Gandhi International Airport was on high alert in view of the Independence Day.

The officer quickly alerted her seniors about the “suspicious” woman.

A team of Delhi Police rushed in and whisked away the “suspect” to a nearby police station even before the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards airports, could grill her.

“She was put on suspicious passenger category… This happened at 6pm. But before we could proceed, a police team took her and the male passenger travelling with her to the police station,” a CISF official told HT on Monday.

What police found during the questioning was a desperate bid by a young couple to escape the young woman’s mother, dead set against their relationship.

The woman was travelling to Bangkok with her boyfriend. She hid behind the burqa to throw her mother off their trail, who came all the way to the airport looking for her.

Before she reached the airport, the mother even called police and complained that her minor daughter was being lured away by a boy and they were travelling to Bangkok by a Spicejet flight.

A police team swooped down on the airport to rescue the young woman.

“We brought three of them to police station for verification. We found the woman was 19 and was travelling with her boyfriend on her own volition,” said a police officer, who questioned them. Once they were sure that the woman was not a minor, they allowed her to travel to Bangkok with her boyfriend.

As for the mother, she could only head home.