Georgia (Not) On My Mind: Woman Alleges 56 Indians Harassed Passports Seized

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The alleged inhuman treatment of 56 Indian tourists while trying to enter Georgia has sparked a frenzy on social media.

The matter came to light when a woman, Dhruvee Patel, posted on social media regarding the alleged 'inhuman behaviour' she and 55 other Indians faced while trying to enter the country from Armenia's Sadakhlo border. She claims they were unfairly treated despite all of them being in possession of valid e-visas.

Patel says in the post that the entourage was made to wait for more than five hours in freezing temperatures and were not even provided basic facilities like food and a washroom.

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Their passports were also confiscared by Georgian officials for over two hours with no intimation on when the same were to be handed over. Patel continues that the entire group was forced to sit on the footpath "like cattle" and that videos of them were taken despite the Indians being not allowed to film their alleged mistreatment.

The Georgian authorities "didn't even check our documents, simply claimed visas were 'wrong'," Patel also alleged.

In her post, she also tagged the Ministry of External Affairs, the account of S Jaishankar himself, and also Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"India must take a strong stand," she urged in her post.

Social media users back claim

A number of social media users backed Patel's claims and said they had faced similar harassment in the country. One said,“Many of my friends from UAE 🇦🇪 have faced similar situations & challenges some even with toddlers were treated like criminals .. I could say better to boycott Georgia completely.”

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This is not the first time that Georgia's e-visa issue with India has come to light. In 2017, around 200 Indians who were carrying e-visas were sent back from the country. Post this, a series of diplomatic dialogues were held betweeen officials of the two nations.

Georgia had then admitted that that was an issue with their e-visa system and asked Indians to apply for visa via the traditional route.

For Indians travelling to the country, you can reach out to relevant authorities in Georgia via their official e-visa portal.

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