Top Indian court orders release of 'Pakistani man' after 7 years in detention

NEW DELHI – The Indian Supreme Court on Friday ordered release of a Pakistan passport-holder who has been lodged in a detention centre for more than seven years now, but could not be deported because Pakistan has yet to recognise him as its citizen.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said “facts as they stand before the court indicate that Mohd Qamar has served out his sentence” after being convicted under the Foreigners Act “and has been lodged at the detention centre awaiting deportation since February 7, 2015…”

“We are of the view that keeping the detenue Mohd Qamar in detention would not be appropriate in the facts of the present case…As there is no security threats of any nature whatsoever which has been placed on record or any adverse input for that matter bearing on national security…the detenue should be released on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 5,000 with two sureties of Indian citizens in the like amount,” said the bench.

Qamar said in his plea that he was born in India in 1959 and went to Pakistan with his mother in 1967-68 to meet relatives. But his mother died there and he remained with the relatives. He came to India on a Pakistani passport in the late eighties and married a woman from Uttar Pradesh and had five children from the wedlock. He contended that the Pakistani government was refusing to accept his nationality and sought release from detention so that he could apply for citizenship.