The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the police to refrain from taking any coercive action against Pakistani national Siraj Khan until further orders. The court also directed him to be present before the RAK Marg police from Friday every morning.
A division bench of justices VK Tahilramani and AR Joshi has posted the petition filed by Siraj's wife Sajida for final hearing. Sajida has challenged the order passed by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) restraining his (Siraj's) movements to the compound of RAK Marg police station.
The order came after public prosecutor Sandip Shinde informed the bench that the FRRO order had lapsed on the midnight of October 5 and no fresh order had been passed. The police informed the court that Siraj had escaped from the compound of the police station and, therefore, a new case has been registered against him. Shinde told the court that the Pakistani was absconding.
However, his advocate argued that he was illegally released by the police and a false case has been registered against him, and that he is also likely to file for anticipatory bail in the appropriate court. The court replied, "That is a separate matter and we are not concerned about it. Tomorrow, you will murder someone and come to us seeking stay on arrest in that case, that will not be possible."
Siraj had been in detention at the RAK Marg police station ever since he completed his prison term in January. He was held guilty for staying illegally in India. Restrictions were imposed on him on orders of the FRRO, Mumbai.
Advocates Anjali Awast and Yousuf Khan contended in their petition that the order passed by the FRRO did not provide any basis for this apprehension and sought an interim order, stating the basic procedure of deportation was likely to get over in a few days and the order passed by the FRRO was also likely to be extended.
Further, the petition argued, Siraj is a Pakistani, while Sajida and their three children are Indian, and, therefore, have fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. The family's fundamental and statutory right that their basic needs of food, shelter, education and health care be taken care of by Siraj, and not letting him work, amounted to depriving them of those rights.
Siraj claims to have entered India in 1996 by mistake and, after wandering for some time, he reached Mumbai and married Sajida in 2005.
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