Guwahati: A group of students from prestigious Handique Girls’ College of Assam was prevented from entering the Taj Mahal by authorities because “their faces were looking like foreigners.”

A group of 29 history students from Guwahati-based Handique Girls’ College, were on a college excursion recently to Jaipur, Agra-Mathura, Vrindavan and Delhi to see India’s historical culture. When the group reached Agra to see the Taj Mahal, the students were denied entry and told to buy ticket for foreigners. The obvious reason was that they had Mongoloid features.

When students showed their Permanent Account Number cards, they were told those weren’t enough as a PAN card did not testify whether the person hailed from Assam or not. When the students flanked their college identity cards, the officials said though the college identity cards affirmed that they were from Assam, nowhere on the cards was written that Assam is a part of India.

A student, who was part of the group said that the horrifying incident left them dejected as authorities went on humiliating the teachers accompanying the students. The authorities frisking tickets at the gate even engaged into a verbal brawl with senior professor.

“They asked us to name the chief minister of Assam and where in India, Assam is located, which subjected us to sheer humiliation,” narrated the students.

This incident came close on the heels of an incident during the Republic Day parade at Rajpath when a girl from Arunachal Pradesh was humiliated and harassed by the crowd by asking her nationality. The crowd, which branded her as Chinese because of her face went to the extent of lodging complaints with the authorities asking as to how a foreigner was allowed to sit in galley meant for Indians.