India's Embassy in Ukraine refutes reports on issuing visas according to gender principle

16:56

The Embassy of India in Ukraine has declared that all visas to India are issued only under the standard procedure used by most diplomatic missions.

"The embassy has noticed reports in local media, according to which applications for visas from women undergo additional checks," reads an embassy statement.

In connection with the appearance of such reports, the Embassy of India stated that it accepts tourists from all regions and does not practice more thorough checks of visa documents based on the gender of candidates.

"All visas are issued after undergoing standard procedures, which are common for most diplomatic missions," reads the statement.

According to the statement, the number of visas issued by the Embassy of India in Ukraine increased from 13,000 to 20,000 from 2010 to 2011.

"The embassy regrets an incident that occurred in the morning on January 18, 2012, during which the diplomatic mission's premises were attacked by a group of unidentified people, who did not try to check their facts before taking such unacceptable actions," reads the embassy's statement.

As reported, in the morning on Wednesday four half-naked young women staged a protest against the alleged decision of the Indian Foreign Ministry to send out recommendations to all of its embassies with instructions no to issue visas to women aged between 15 and 40 years old from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, explaining that they travel to India to earn money for sexual services.

The police have detained the participants of the protest.