Lankan woman jailed in fake passport case

Trichy: A Sri Lankan woman was sentenced to six months' prison term for trying to travel to Sri Lanka using a fake passport. The Trichy magistrate court convicted her on Wednesday 15 years after her illegal flight.The accused, Ashila Yusuf, 42, hailed from Sammanthurai, Ampara district in Sri Lanka. She arrived in India in early 2000s and was staying in Thanjavur illegally, sources said. Ashila took a fake passport with the address of Quaid-e-Milleth Nagar in Thanjavur district. She attempted to travel to Sri Lanka from Trichy airport on September 19, 2010, when airport immigration officials discovered that her passport was fake.Airport station police registered a case against Ashila under Passport Act in addition to Foreigners Act. On conclusion of trial, magistrate M S Subramanian found her guilty and sentenced her to six months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs2,000. If she defaults on payment of fine, she would undergo an additional one month in prison.Assistant public prosecutor B Venkatesan, who represented the state, said this is the first time a woman has been awarded jail term in a fake passport case in Trichy.