Kochi: Immigration officials asked Norwegian native Janne-Mette Johansson to leave the country after she took part in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Kochi. The 71-year-old woman is the second foreign national to be asked to leave India for participating in an anti-CAA protest.
It can be recalled that Jakob Lindenthal, an IIT Madras student from Germany, had to depart from the country under similar circumstances on December 23.
Speaking to TNM, officials from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office said, “Yes, she was summoned yesterday (Thursday) and has been asked to leave the country on finding that she has violated visa norms.”
However, it remains unclear if Johansson was asked to leave the country immediately for her violations. She was on her fifth visit to India and her visa was set to expire in March as per media reports.
Earlier, Johansson had attended an anti-CAA protest march called the ‘People’s Long March’ in Kochi. Taking to Facebook, the Norwegian had posted pictures from the event with a caption that read, “This afternoon I participated in a protest march; People’s Long March. It started out from Gandhi Circle Ernakulam, and we marched with slogans and flags to Vasco da Gama Square Cochin, while the protesters were singing and chanting and with their fists up. The People’s Long March was very well organized.”
After being summoned by immigration officials for allegedly violating her visa norms, Johannson recounted her experience to TOI where she describer her interaction with the officials as “bad and belittling”. After being questioned, Johannson was told to remian in the city until a final decision had been taken regarding her case.
Since then, Johannson has announced online that she will not be posting any updates about her travels in India.
