Certified photocopies of the new passport of research scholar Lois Sofia, who was arrested recently for raising anti-BJP slogans at Thoothukudi airport, were handed over to the Pudukottai police on Friday night.
Ms. Sofia’s father A.A. Samy handed over the copies, all certified by a notary public, to the Pudukottai police, though the law enforcers had sought the original passport.
After she was arrested by the Pudukottai police recently for raising slogans against the BJP in the presence of the party’s State president Tamilisai Soundararajan at Thoothukudi airport, Ms. Sofia was granted bail by a court here. While arresting her, the Pudukottai police asked her to surrender her passport and the research scholar had handed over her expired passport.
When the Pudukottai police summoned Ms. Sofia to surrender her new passport on Friday, her father Dr. Samy informed that he would appear before the police on behalf of his daughter.
Accompanied by his advocates E. Athisayakumar and Santhanasekar, Dr. Samy came to the police station and handed over the certified copies of the new passport to the police.
The police returned the old passport to Dr. Samy as it carried a U.S. visa valid up to 2026.
Emerging from the police station, Mr. Athisayakumar claimed that the police received the certified copies and did not ask for any information. “She (Ms. Sofia) has come to India on a 60-day vacation. She will go back to Canada to continue her studies as there is no problem in it,” he said.
