Guwahati: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a petition by a 56-year-old woman, seeking the release of her daughter and minor grandson lodged in a Pakistan prison for over 40 days for ‘illegally’ crossing the border, saying “it’s beyond its writ jurisdiction”.
Hailing from Dimoruguri Balibhui Panigaon village in Nagaon town of Central Assam, Wahida Begum and her 10-year-old son were detained by Pakistan authorities along the Chaman border on 25 November, 2022, for trying to cross over into Pakistan from Afghanistan without valid documents.
They are lodged in the Quetta district jail.
The petitioner Azifa Khatun had sought urgent government intervention in the matter on humanitarian grounds to secure their release.
Dismissing the petition, the court said it has no power to pass any guidelines to any authority under the Government of Pakistan, and since the petitioner’s daughter was kidnapped from Assam, the matter is beyond its jurisdiction. However, they said, the petitioner can approach the Gauhati High Court.
Speaking to regional media persons, Supreme Court advocate Santosh Kumar Suman, Azifa Khatun’s lawyer, said the petitioner might now move the apex court.
An FIR filed at the Nagaon police station on 1 December, 2022, Khatun had alleged that her widowed daughter and grandson have been ‘kidnapped’.
Speaking to ThePrint, Leena Doley, superintendent of police, Nagaon, said that Wahida was arrested by Pakistan authorities for crossing the border without valid documents. She was found to be travelling with a Pashtun man she had come in contact with while in Assam, she added.
“Wahida had met a Pashtun man through an Afghan national here and he reportedly promised to marry her and take her to Saudi Arabia. So, she sold off all her property, got her passport and visa done, and with her son, left for Saudi Arabia. What happened thereafter will be known only after she returns to India. We have already registered a case,” Doley said.
ThePrint reached the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs by calls and in person, but had not received a response by the time of publishing this report. The article will be updated once a response is received.
‘Seeking intervention through diplomatic channels’
In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, an advocate of the Pakistan Supreme Court, on 22 December, 2022, stated that Wahida was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) along the Pak-Afghan border Chaman for crossing over ‘without any legal travel documents’.
The letter also requested the authorities concerned in Pakistan to inform the Indian Embassy about the detainees and initiate proceedings in the case.
Advocate Suman told media persons Thursday that a legal notice was sent to the concerned authorities under the Government of India on 29 December, 2022, seeking intervention through diplomatic channels, but no response had been received so far.
Suman said Khatun had received a WhatsApp call on 30 November from her daughter Wahida informing her about the arrest.
Speaking to ThePrint, Khatun said her daughter reportedly went missing on 12 November, 2022, and that she was informed about her disappearance the next day by a shopkeeper in Nagaon town’s Dhaka Patty area.
The entire incident, she said, could be the result of a property dispute that has been ongoing for the past four years between the family and local businessmen following the death of her son-in-law, Mohsin Khan. He had left behind property in the form of retail and wholesale shops in Barabazar, Dhaka Patty.
“Wahida was forcibly taken away, and we don’t know anything about it,” said Khatun. “She was also forced to sell her property for Rs 1.60 crore to some businessmen here who wanted to take possession of the entire property.”
According to Assam police, talks are underway for her repatriation.
Speaking to ThePrint, a government official, on condition of anonymity, explained the process. “If the Indian Embassy is notified, they make a request to the Pakistan foreign office for consular access, with details of the incident passed down by the lawyer of the detainee. The embassy can take it up at a diplomatic level. If the person is found involved in any crime, including crossing over illegally or overstaying in a foreign country, the Indian authorities may request for due process of law to be followed.”
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)