Dubai businessman calls for ‘NRI reforms' as Jaipur airport officers transferred after harassment complaints
Vasu Shroff, who was recently harassed at the Jaipur airport in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan over a 10-year-old Rolex watch, said he is still reeling from the incident and wants to look out for his fellow Indians.
'There are many low-income people who land in that airport and are harassed by officials,' he told Khaleej Times. 'I even saw some women being made to remove their mangalsutra (a sacred necklace worn by Hindu women to signify marriage), claiming that it has not been declared. I am ready to pay the fines for all the items that have been confiscated from such travellers and who want to bring them back to the UAE.'
On April 12, the 83-year-old wheelchair-bound entrepreneur was visiting India for a two-day trip when customs officers stopped him and demanded that he pay customs duty for the gold watch worth over Dh150,000. He said that he was made to wait for hours and treated like a 'criminal' during the ordeal. On Sunday, it emerged that four customs officials who were involved in the incident had been transferred to various other parts of Rajasthan.
A resident of the UAE for over 73 years, Shroff is often described as the textile king of Dubai, due to the clothing empire he has built up. On Sunday, he arrived at a Rajasthan Carnival held at the Zabeel Ladies Club wearing the watch that had been confiscated to meet a minister of the state. 'I will submit a petition to him right now with proof,' he said. 'I presume that after this incident, they will improve.'
'A change in the system'
Although happy that the officers had faced the consequences of their action, Shroff's lawyer, Dharmendre Singh, an advocate in the Delhi Supreme Court and Jaipur High Court, confirmed to Khaleej Times that he was preparing to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) over the incident.
'There needs to be a change in the system,' he said. 'People should not be harassed over their personal jewellery items. In this case, my client was wearing the watch, and he was dressed in a half-sleeve shirt. When personal items are visible while travelling, they should be automatically assumed as declared because they are not hidden.'
According to Indian customs rules, luxury items brought into the country without proper declaration may attract a duty of approximately 38 per cent. However, many expats claim they are harassed by airport officials. Earlier this month the Delhi High Court ruled that personal or inherited jewellery worn by passengers should not be seized or detained by customs officials, and that travellers should not be harassed.
Singh added that a change was highly overdue, considering how Rajasthan was a tourism hub. 'Jaipur is a great place for destination weddings,' he noted. 'A lot of women will bring their jewelry and ornaments for this and if they face a situation like this, no one will ever want to come back to Jaipur. So there needs to be a system in place to ensure smooth passage for such people.'
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