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Maharashtra allows Nitu Singh to return

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has come to the rescue of Nepali student Nitu Singh. It issued an order on Wednesday allowing Ms. Singh, a student of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, to return to India to complete her studies. She has been allowed a period of 30 days, it is learnt from official sources.

Ms. Singh, 30, was deported on December 5, 2009, allegedly because of her influential husband. The All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) had complained to the police seeking its intervention. The Pune police had said Ms. Singh was being deported because of her “anti-national activities.”

The government, however, has attached some conditions for her return; one being that she stay away from the media.

Ms. Singh was about to complete her three-year postgraduate diploma in film editing. At 10.30 p.m. on December 5, two women police officers in plainclothes went to her room and got her out allegedly on some pretext. They packed her bags and deported her to Kathmandu.

When the FTII director intervened, he was told it was a high security matter and that nothing could be made public.

Ms. Singh has been a student of the FTII since October 2005. On May 13, 2007, she married Amresh Kumar Singh.

The AIDWA letter said: “She experienced severe physical and mental harassment from the very first day of marriage. She decided to continue her course at the FTII and returned to Pune. However, Amresh would continuously make abusive and disturbing telephone calls, send e-mails and messages on the mobile, threatening to deport her.

“She told us that he is an influential politician in Nepal, a former MP of the Nepali Congress, and was using his contacts in the Nepali government as well as in India to harass and prevent her from completing her studies and becoming financially independent.”

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