Forging documents for Indian passport: 2 Bangladeshis sentenced to 4yrs imprisonment

A court in Lucknow in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has sentenced two Bangladeshi nationals to four years imprisonment under six separate laws after convicting them of forging documents to get Indian passport.

However, the special judicial magistrate of Lucknow ruled that the sentences under separate laws would run concurrently and so the maximum stay of the two Bangladeshis in jail would be four years, an official statement said on Thursday evening, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Ali and Khan admitted their guilt before the court, according to the statement.

The Bangladeshis, identified as Yusuf Ali and Zaheer Khan, both residents of Barishal in Bangladesh, were convicted under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of official documents) and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code for which each of them was sentenced to four years in jail and asked to pay Rs 1,000 fine in each case.

They were also sentenced to three years imprisonment each under section 471 (fraudulently using as genuine forged documents) of the IPC and ordered to pay up Rs 1,000 each as fine and to three years in jail under section 120B rule of IPC.

Ali and Khan each were also sentenced to three years in jail under section 14 of the Foreigners Act and slapped with a fine of Rs 500 each and sent to one year in prison and asked to pay a fine of Rs 500 each under section 12 of the Foreigners' Act.

The court, however, asked each of them to pay up Rs 5,500 as fine and said if they defaulted in fine payment they would have to serve one more month in jail.

The Anti-Terror Squad of Uttar Pradesh police had arrested the two Bangladeshis in 2017 along with four others on the charge of forging documents and obtaining passports.