A former Jet Airways cabin crew member, who was booked after she inadvertently submitted her sister’s passport instead of her own before travelling abroad for work, was cleared of charges of impersonating and cheating by a magistrate court. The court observed that she had rectified her mistake immediately but still had to “face the agony” of the criminal case, “which ruined her career”. “The evidence on record shows that the accused committed an innocuous mistake of handing over a wrong passport and she rectified the mistake by immediately submitting her own passport. Still she had to face the agony of this prosecution which ruined her career. Except for the fact of registration of offence, nothing could be brought on record to prove the charges of cheating by impersonation levelled against the accused. The evidence adduced by the prosecution even, if it is accepted as it is, does not prove the charges of cheating by impersonation against the accused,” additional chief judicial magistrate, Andheri, GD Nirmale, said in the order passed on October 3. A case was registered at Sahar police station against Aqsa Shaikh. She was then working as a cabin crew member with Jet Airways and was to fly from Mumbai to Muscat on August 30, 2017. It was submitted that she was running late and when she reached the immigration counter for departure clearance, she handed over her immigration permit and passport to the duty officer. The officer found that the details in the passport did not match her permit. When he inquired, Shaikh realised that she had mistakenly given her sister’s passport, and submitted hers. The officer checked both passports and suspected that Shaikh had previously on two occasions travelled on her sister’s passport. During cross-examination of the complainant officer, Shaikh through her lawyer Rohit Gulati, asked if it was possible that she could travel on another person’s passport since there are various checks in place for crew members and for other travellers. “The admissions of the informant (officer) clearly show that the accused could not have travelled on the passport of her sister by submitting her own details in general declaration form and immigration permit forms on the aforesaid dates. There is no evidence regarding fraudulent or dishonest intention of the accused to deceive anyone,” the court said, adding that no evidence was brought to the fore to show the commission of the offence. The court observed that even if it is assumed that the officer suspected the travel history on Shaikh’s sister’s passport, “there is no cogent evidence to prove that the present accused had travelled on the said passport”. It said that it was not the case of the police that the passports or any documents were fake. The court also held that conscious use of another person’s passport or travel document is an offence under the Passport Act. “To rope accused for violation of Passport Act, the investigating agency requires sanction from the Competent Authority, as mandated under section 15 of the Passport Act. However, the authority has given a go bye to Passport Act and booked the accused under Penal sections. When there is a special statute to deal with such offences, then there is no point in booking those accused under general law,” the court said. The court noted that on the particular day, Shaikh was not allowed to fly and both the passports were seized, which it said should be returned to the holders, after the appeal period is over.
