Govt. Introduces Changes in Visa to Prevent Child Sexual Abusers from Coming to India

Foreign nationals coming to India will now have to fill a questionnaire and give a declaration, other than the rest of the visa related forms, in which they will be required to mention their criminal records, if there are any.

They will also have to tell in this questionnaire if they have been rejected for visa anytime in past due to any pending cases against them.

The changes in the visa application process is being seen as a measure to prevent people with a history of child sexual abuse from entering India.

Women and Child Development Ministry officers started implementing these changes last month with the help of Bureau of Immigration, which functions under Ministry of Home Affairs, according to the Times of India.

The Women and Child Development Ministry had earlier asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to introduce this questionnaire which was accepted. Maneka Gandhi, who head the Women and Child Development Ministry, took to twitter to express her delight about the changes.

“I am very pleased to inform you that our request to revise the Visa Application process for foreign nationals travelling to India to declare any criminal record, in view of prevention of sexual abuse of children, has been accepted,” she said in her tweet.

I am very pleased to inform you that our request to revise the Visa Application process for foreign nationals travelling to India to declare any criminal record, in view of prevention of sexual abuse of children, has been accepted.

— Maneka Gandhi (@Manekagandhibjp) October 22, 2018

“It has now been decided that an appropriate questionnaire & a declaration will be incorporated in the visa application form which will have to be filled up by visa applicants/ foreign nationals,” she said.

She said that the request to introduce such questionnaire was made to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, citing numerous complaints of serial child sexual abusers from other countries entering India.

She thanked Singh for accepting this request and said, “I am thankful to Hon’ble HM Shri Rajnath Singh ji for considering my request, which was based on complaints of serial child sexual abuse offenders managing to visit India.”

She hoped that this measure would be a strong deterrent in preventing such abusers from getting Indian visa. “This step will certainly be a strong deterrent for perpetrators of such heinous crimes,” she tweeted.

In January 2017, Maneka Gandhi had written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asking her to make some changes in visa format to prevent foreign nationals convicted of child abuse from entering India, the Indian Express said in an earlier report.

The Indian Express had quoted her as saying, “At present, foreign nationals do not have to declare their record of criminal prosecution for visas to travel to India.” She had asked for this practice to be changed and introduction of a mechanism for preventing such sexual offenders from entering the country, the report added.