Return journey for a Kashmiri girl, a medical student in Bangladesh, turned horrible as she was detained at the Indira Gandhi Airport in Srinagar on Friday after security staff saw "carrying bomb" written on her check-in luggage.
The girl, a resident of Rajbagh in Srinagar city, was taken for questioning after the security staff at the airport informed the police. She was travelling from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata.
Officials said the incident took place when the girl and her three friends, bound for Srinagar, landed at the airport from Dhaka via Kolkata about 11:00 AM.
She was questioned while security agencies carried out background check at Bangladesh and Srinagar. The girl was released after everything was found in order by the police, the officials said.
The incident was flagged by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who took to Twitter and sought help from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard.
"@HMOIndia @PMOIndia kindly look into the matter of the detention of two Kashmiri girls at Delhi airport. Their parents are very concerned.
"@HMOIndia @PMOIndia Any assistance and information will be greatly appreciated by their families & loved ones. Thank you in anticipation," Omar tweeted.
"@HMOIndia @PMOIndia The grounds, as explained to me seem rather flimsy given that they flew from Dhaka to Delhi via Kolkata & then detained," he said in another tweet.
The home minister promptly responded with the tweet "@abdullah_omar please send the details to pstohm@nic.in."
Bilal Ahmad, the father of one of the girls, said that he attempted to seek the help of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti but was refused an audience with her.
"There were four girls who were returning from Bangladesh. They flew from Dhaka to Kolkata and then to Delhi. Their luggage was checked and cleared at all the airports," Ahmad said in Srinagar.
"After they were detained, the airport authorities or the police did not inform their families. We fear for their safety. We have only talked to them once so far," he said.
The three other girls decided to stay put with their friend and did not board the flight to Srinagar and waited till she was released.
"Delhi Police released her after a few hours of questioning. However, between all this, the girls missed their connecting flight to Srinagar from Delhi and will now take a flight tomorrow," the official said.
