30 foreigners arrested for ‘disturbing peace’

GREATER NOIDA: Half of the 60 foreigners detained for staying in Greater Noida without proper documents were arrested late on Friday night on the charge of disturbing peace. Around 60 foreigners were detained during a drive to check for illegal immigrants on Wednesday. Of them, 12 were released, and 17 escaped custody.
Noida police chief Vaibhav Krishna said the decision was taken after some of the foreigners escaped from the Police Lines hospital on Thursday night and the women lodged in the barracks showed aggressive behaviour towards the cops. On Saturday, the foreigners currently in custody were charged under Section 151 (disturbing peace) of the CrPC. “They were sent to jail on Friday night after being produced before a magistrate,” Krishna said.
Families of those detained flocked to the SSP’s office on Saturday and appealed to the officer to show some leniency. Among the protesters was Dolly Antony, who had been making rounds of the police station with her two-year-old daughter to plead for her husband’s release. Police said Dolly’s marriage with Samuel Loka was illegal because it happened in 2015, three years after his visa had already expired.
“We are bound by the law. Those who have been detained were illegally staying in the city. They will be deported for now, but can revisit only on legal grounds after taking a visa,” said Krishna.
Sources in Luksar jail said the foreigners created a ruckus after being arrested on Friday night.
“It became quite difficult to handle them at first. They kept screaming that they are not criminals and even refused to enter the jail. This lasted for around five hours, after which the 19 women were lodged in the barracks for women while the 11 men were sent to barrack number 7,”a jail official told TOI.
Krishna said the police were searching for the 17 foreigners who escaped from the Police Lines hospital after removing a piece of cardboard used to cover a window whose grilles had broken. “We are questioning the cops who were on duty there at the Police Lines when the detainees fled. We are trying to track them, they would be arrested soon,” he added.