Polish Devotee with Daughter and no Visa stranded in Mumbai

Mumbai, India – May 07, 2013, (VNN) by Manish K Pathak via DNA

The Juhu police station in suburban Mumbai has been the scene of much drama for the past three weeks with a Polish woman, who appears to have overstayed her visa, being housed there, along with her infant daughter.

The 35-year-old (see picture), a Lord Krishna devotee, who has visited ISKCON temples around the country ever since she arrived in 2008 on a six-month tourist visa, has kept a team of policewomen busy with her threats to commit suicide, attempts to flee, and requests for babycare products.

The Juhu police have now approached diplomatic officials of Poland in New Delhi.

Brajhari Das, president of the ISKCON temple in Juhu, said she was first seen in the vicinity of the temple on April 9, wearing a long vermillion mark on her forehead, dressed in robes, and begging for money. “She later entered the temple premises and refused to leave,” Das said.

“She was not carrying a visa or passport. We cannot keep foreigners without documents in our temple even if they are devotees,” he said. When she threatened to commit suicide if they forced her to leave, they informed the Juhu police.

Police station sources say they initially kept the woman and her baby at another place but she left without informing the police. The police then tracked her down and decided to host her in the police station.

“We have taken permission from the Special Branch and she has been in Juhu police station for almost two weeks along with her two-year-old daughter,” said inspector Vijay Khaire of the Juhu police station.

Demanding that she be given Indian citizenship, the woman has been repeatedly telling everyone that she is not a criminal and should not be held at the police station. “Why is the police keeping me in the police station? Why do they want to send me to Poland? My baby was born here. I want Indian citizenship,” she told dna on Friday.

One woman constable said she and her colleagues have been looking after the baby, washing her clothes and providing them with food. One day she even managed to lock one woman constable in the police station toilet and tried to flee but was caught.

Speaking to dna, the woman said she has no relatives in Poland. “I was rejected by everyone in Poland. Before coming to India, I was teaching Indian culture for five years there. I love this country and culture.”

She apparently landed in New Delhi in 2008, before going on to visit Vrindavan in UP where she lived for four years. That’s where her baby was born, in August 2011. She claims she is not in touch with the baby’s father. Six months ago, she came to Mumbai and lived in various locations before reaching ISKCON on April 9.