SOP issued for international passenger movement at IGI

Court sets aside FIR against woman cop

New Delhi, March 19: The Delhi high court on Thursday set aside a trial court order to lodge FIR against a woman police officer for penetrative sexual assault of a minor girl, who had also levelled allegations of rape and molestation against her father and school teacher respectively.

The woman officer was one of the investigating officers in the sexual assault case lodged against the father and was accused of penetrating the private parts of the minor with her fingers prior to medial examination of the girl.

The high court said there was “no plausible motive” for the woman to commit the offence she had been accused of.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva further said the trial court should not have overlooked the possibility of a false complaint being made against the woman officer under the influence of the parents, “especially when the father is accused of sexually assaulting the child victim and she is continuing to reside with him”.

The high court also noted in its order that the doctor and the nurse who carried out the girl’s medical examination had said that the allegations against the officer were “false and baseless” as neither the minor nor her mother said anything to them about any such incident.

Even the inquiry report of Police had absolved the officer of any wrongdoing.

New Delhi, March 19: The Union health ministry has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for movement of international passengers, returning from coronavirus-affected countries, at the Delhi Airport.

In view of reports about a few incidents of ruckus being created by international passengers at the Delhi Airport during the last few days, the ministry stated that people returning from the novel coronavirus-affected countries would be first escorted by the airline staff to the health counters for initial thermal screening.

If any passenger shows any symptoms of the COVID-19 disease, he or she would be isolated and moved to a designated hospital, the ministry noted in a press release issued on Wednesday.

After thermal screening, asymptomatic passengers will be moved to designated immigration counters with passports and a copy of the self-reporting form.

Airline staff in the plane and on the ground would have to ensure that the arriving passengers have filled their self-reporting forms properly, it said.

Currently, India has put a ban on arrival of all passengers—including

Indians—from Europe, Afghanistan, UK, and various other countries.

Moreover, India has also announced that passengers coming from UAE, Qatar, and various other countries must remain in quarantine for 14 days.

The ministry stated that once the asymptomatic passengers clear immigration, their passports would be retained by immigration officials.

Passengers in batches of 30 will be handed over to an escort team led by a CISF officer, who would also be holding the passport of each passenger.

“The passports shall not be handed over to the passengers at any cost,” the ministry said, adding that once the luggage is collected, the passengers would be moved to a designated triage area manned by Delhi government officials.

“There would be a control room at the triage area and five screening counters manned by medical officers and para-medical staff deputed by the Delhi government,” the ministry noted.

At the assigned counter, the passports of the entire batch will be handed over by the team leader to the medical officer in-charge of the counter.”