An Indian citizen wrongfully detained in the UAE due to mistaken identity landed in India in the wee hours of Sunday. Praveen Kumar, a Noida-based businessman, was detained at the Abu Dhabi airport because his face matched a “wanted criminal” in facial recognition software on October 11. Kumar is a resident of Habibpur village in Greater Noida and works as a contractor. for a cement company. He and his wife Usha were on a week-long trip in Switzerland and had a connecting flight from Abu Dhabi.
“The company offered the couple a trip to Switzerland organized by a travel agency. Unable to find a direct flight to Switzerland, they boarded a flight to Abu Dhabi from Delhi, after which they were supposed to fly to their destination. They left for the week-long trip on October 11,” said Atul Sharma, Kumar’s relative. Usha said immigration officials at the airport took their passports and visas and airport officers then took them to a separate room.
“They told my husband he would be detained because his face matched that of a criminal wanted by the Abu Dhabi police,” she said. Family members frantically tweeted their ordeal to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other senior officials of the ministry to seek help in the matter. After landing in India, Kumar said the CID detained him at the airport but let him go the first time. However, when he was on his way to leave, he was detained a second time. “They kept me overnight, forced me to accept that I was someone else, put me in a holding cell in the morning, took me to another city, held me and questioned me again. I would like to thank PM Modi and CM Adityanath for their swift action in this matter,” Kumar said after arriving in India.
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