Taking a serious view of the deportation of a Nepalese woman student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune on December 5, the Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the Maharashtra government.
Top sources in the Ministry said on Friday that the State’s Home Department was asked to furnish a detailed report on how the fourth year student of editing, Nitu Singh (30), was involved in “anti-India activities and [how she] posed a threat to national security.”
It was strange that the Pune police acted “high-handedly” and did not even take the FTII Director into confidence, the sources said.
“Had national security been involved, certainly the Intelligence Bureau would have known about it and it should have been kept informed. But nothing of the sort happened. She was just picked up, her belongings packed, and she was bundled away to Kathmandu,” senior Home Ministry officials said.
The sources said the Pune police had “exceeded” their brief.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Ravindra Sengaonkar said the student was found involved in “anti-national activities.” But he refused to divulge further details of the case, which has been taken up by the All-India Democratic Women’s Association.
