Deport order on model’s husband

*Panaji, Aug. 20 *(PTI): Model Ujjwala Raut's estranged British husband was
today asked to leave India within 72 hours in a deportation order that he
alleged was meant to "victimise" him.

"I am being victimised by my wife and the Indian government which has
revoked my PIO card without following the due process," Craig Maxwell Sterry
said after receiving the deportation order at the office of the
superintendent of police here.

Craig, a model-turned-entrepreneur, had gone missing since August 10 when he
had submitted his Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card. The deportation order
follows the Union home ministry's move to revoke his PIO status on the
ground of "public interest".

Craig, whose five-year-old marriage with the model is on the rocks, filed a
plea before the Goa bench of Bombay High Court saying the revocation was
mala fide and didn't involve public interest.

But the court declined to give him any immediate relief and said it would
hear his plea only on August 28.

The divorce petition of the couple, who have a three-year-old daughter, is
pending before a family court in Mumbai, where Ujjwala comes from.

Today, Craig admitted he had been on the run for the past 10 days, but said
he did so to stay on in India and fight for his daughter's custody.

"I was on the run as I knew that the police would deport me. I want to fight
the case in Indian courts and stay back as I have to take the custody of my
daughter. I have been a good father and I will try to get the custody of my
daughter," he added.

Questioning the deportation order, Craig said he had no criminal proceedings
against him in India or anywhere in the world. Ujjwala, who won the Miss
India title in 1996 and has walked the ramp for several iconic designers in
shows at home and abroad, couldn't be contacted for comment.

A senior Goa police officer said both Craig and Ujjwala had lodged
complaints of misbehaviour 10 days ago. "We had received complaints from the
husband and wife," the officer added.

Craig's PIO status was cancelled late last month, after which he appeared
before the police. "He came to meet me with photocopies of his PIO card and
passport. When I insisted on the original documents, he went back promising
to return in two hours but never turned up," superintendent of police
(foreigners' branch) Tony Fernandes had said earlier in the day before Craig
came to take the order.

Later, on August 10, Craig was found at his residence at Aldonha and was
brought to the police station.
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