SC seeks Centre’s response Pakistani national’s plea for bail to apply for Indian citizenship

New Delhi, February 28

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to respond to a petition of a Pakistan national—lodged in a detention centre for over seven years in India—seeking bail to apply for Indian citizenship after Pakistani authorities refused to take him back.

In her petition, Ana Parveen said her 62-year-old father Mohammad Qamar wanted to apply for Indian citizenship and make a representation to government authorities with particulars of all the family members who would stand surety in case he was released.

Noting that Qamar’s all five children have Indian citizenship, a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud asked Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj to seek instructions on the petition.

”if Pakistan is not accepting him, it’s not binding on us… I’ll have to seek instructions,” Nataraj told the Bench.

Interestingly, Qamar claimed to have been born in India in 1959. He went to Pakistan as a child along with his mother in 1967 to meet his relatives. However, his mother died over there and he had to remain in Pakistan with his relatives. After becoming an adult, he returned to India on a Pakistani Passport in 1989 and married an Indian citizen, Shehnaaj Begum of Meerut.

Qamar was arrested on August 8, 2011, in Meerut. After being convicted of overstaying his visa, he was awarded a three-and-a-half-year jail term with a fine of Rs 500. After completing the jail term on February 6, 2015, he was sent to the Detention Centre in Narela in the capital on February 7, 2015, for deportation to Pakistan. But Pakistan refused to take him back, leading to the current litigation.