Frisking may be made mandatory for MPs

After the embarrassment of a member of Parliament, Babu Lal Katara, being caught in a human trafficking racket misusing the red diplomatic passport to smuggle a woman into Canada, the external affairs ministry is taking no chances.

According to a top government source, the ministry is mulling a move through which it will become mandatory for even diplomatic passport holders, especially the 700-odd members of Parliament, to be frisked and undergo immigration clearance in person.

"There is no other way to prevent these kinds of things from recurring," said a senior source in the ministry.

According to the source, the practice of waiving off frisking and immigration procedures for MPs was started in 1977 when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the external affairs minister.

"Significantly, the exemption was not a privilege but a courtesy extended to the MPs who had been holders of diplomatic passports much before this," said the source.

Now a move is afoot that this courtesy be revoked since it has had embarrassing consequences.

While this is a move being contemplated by the ministry of external affairs, those investigating the human trafficking case say that the nexus includes those in the immigration department as well since the return stamps on passports cannot be managed without inside help.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee remains mum on just how many MPs could be involved in the racket.