Give me my boy back, pleads Pakistani widow to Sonia Gandhi

A Pakistani widow has appealed to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to return her Rahul, who “mistakenly” crossed over and was arrested by Border Security Force (BSF), at the earliest.

A curious Nauman boarded a Lahore-Wagah bus on January 12, 2010, only to be apprehended by BSF while he was exploring what a border actually looks like, his family claimed.

“Soniaji is a widowed mother, like me. She can understand my feelings. I appeal to her to take personal interest for early repatriation of my son, particularly since an Indian court has declared him innocent,” an inconsolable Tahira Anwar said as the boy’s maternal uncle Asif offered her water.

Their lawyer Asad Jamal has been in contact with advocate Navkiran Singh, whose chamber pursues human rights cases in Amritsar.

He claimed SS Mann, principal magistrate of the juvenile justice board in Amritsar, threw away a January 14, 2010, first information report filed against Nauman last week, but there was no news of the missing boy.

Quoting advocate VP Singh Bhatia, who appeared on behalf of Nauman before the board, Jamal said the magistrate issued a warning to the schoolboy but ordered his release.

According to Bhatia, BSF declared the Pakistani teenager a “big catch”, though he was in his school uniform — a light blue shirt and dark trousers — and was carrying some 150 gm of almonds in his pocket.

The “recovery” of almonds convinced his interrogators that the boy had been trained in Peshawar with Ajmal Kasab, who has been convicted of last year’s 26/11 Mumbai attack. The attackers had brought bags full of dried fruit along for survival during the Taj siege.

Bhatia alleges BSF interrogated the boy thoroughly before handing him over to Punjab Police, which subjected him to “third degree” torture after booking him under section 3 of Indian Passports Act and section 14 of Foreigners’ Act — routine charges made in cases of illegal border crossing.

No terror-related evidence was found against Nauman, but he was detained at Amritsar Central Jail and later shifted to a juvenile home in Hoshiarpur on May 6 on the orders of an Amritsar court.