Seven German tourists have been “restrained” at a resort in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park (KNP) for allegedly violating visa norms by indulging in missionary activities.
A senior police officer told The Telegraph on Friday evening that the seven Germans had reached KNP, the state’s leading tourist destination, on October 26. They then left for Karbi Anglong district and “participated” in missionary activities “not allowed” under tourist visa.
“They returned to Kaziranga last night and were restrained, not detained, for violating tourist visa norms. We have evidence.… They have to pay a fine of $500 each under the Foreigners Act and will be deported. They were scheduled to leave Assam on October 29 for other places in the country, but now they will be deported,” the police officer said.
The officer clarified the Germans were not under detention. “They have been restrained from moving out till their deportation,’ he said.
This is the second case of “visa rule violation” in Assam involving tourists from European nations since Wednesday when three Swedish nationals were “examined” for the crime by the Dibrugarh police.
The trio were allowed to leave for Delhi on Thursday after paying a fine of $500 each in accordance with a circular issued under the Foreigners Act. All proceedings against them were dropped, the police said.
The Swedish trio had been invited by two Church-based organisations to attend a prayer and healing programme at Naharaktia in Dibrugarh district.
The German tourists are staying in a private resort under the Kohora range of the KNP, around 190km from Guwahati, sources said.
There were reports of them “participating” in missionary activities in Tinsukia and Margherita in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district. They were supposed to travel to Tezpur in adjoining Sonitpur district on Saturday.
Both Karbi Anglong and Tinsukia districts have Christian presence. The community accounts for 3 per cent of the state’s about 3.2-crore population.
The police said the Germans should have travelled on missionary visas if they were to participate in missionary/ religious activities.
