Lucknow: A local court of Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj on Friday sentenced an Uzbekistani woman to two years imprisonment for entering India without proper documents.
Accused Shoksanam Spakhonowa, who is in her 30s, was caught by immigration officials in 2022 at the Indo-Nepal border in Maharajganj’s Sonauli on grounds of suspicion. The woman has been lodged in a jail since her arrest.
“On Friday, Spakhonowa was brought to the court from the Maharajganj jail. Besides sentencing her to two years’ imprisonment, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on her,” said Maharajganj government counsel Purendra Ram Tripathi.
“The court examined four prosecution witnesses in the case. The woman was convicted under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act,” he added.
According to the police, they were tipped on August 22 last year that a foreign national, who arrived at Sonauli border, was trying to enter Nepal illegally.
A team of immigration officials began looking for the foreign national and found her travelling in a vehicle near the Indo-Nepal border. The woman was brought to the immigration office where she failed to give a satisfactory reply to the officials.
During detailed questioning, it came to light that the woman is a native of Uzbekistan and her visa had expired in 2020. “It was found that she was staying in India illegally. A case was lodged against her at the Sonauli police station in Maharajganj and handed over to the local police,” said the prosecuting officer.
