The couple was denied a permit to leave India even after being acquitted by the Bombay high court in a narcotics smuggling case in January 2009.
After years of incarceration on drug smuggling charges and then being forced to live in the city because they were denied an exit permit, Zainab Yousuf, 57, a Singaporean national and her Japanese husband, Tetsyo Hirayama, 62, can finally go back to their hometown.
The couple was denied a permit to leave India even after being acquitted by the Bombay high court in a narcotics smuggling case in January 2009. While Yousuf suffers from breast cancer and has undergone surgery, Hirayama suffers from chronic health problems.
“They were living off their friends. Who will give them jobs here?” said their lawyer Ayaz Khan.
They were arrested in 2000 by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) for allegedly smuggling out nearly 15kg of hashish and were convicted by a special Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court in 2006.
The couple appealed before the high court and was acquitted. Since then, they have been trying to leave the country and go back home to Singapore. As the time for the Customs to appeal in Supreme Court had lapsed, they applied to the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for an exit permit, but it was denied. They moved the Bombay high court, but to no avail.
“When we moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to leave the country, the bench heard the matter on merits and upheld the acquittal,” said Khan.
A bench of justices Markendey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra last Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the Customs department stating that they find “no infirmity” in the well-reasoned judgment of the high court.
The couple had earlier moved the court seeking living expenses from the state. The high court had turned down their plea stating that the state has no such policy and the couple may at most have to apply for a work permit.
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