Siblings file habeas corpus plea in SC for father declared Pakistani, languishing in detention centre

New Delhi, Feb 13: Two Meerut siblings have moved the Supreme Court seeking the release of their father, who was declared a Pakistani national by a court and has been languishing in a detention centre for seven years as Islamabad refuses to accept him as a citizen.
Mohammad Qamar, 62, was arrested on August 8, 2011 from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and was held guilty by a court here for overstaying his visa. He was sentenced to three years and six months in jail and a fine of Rs 500. Having completed his sentence on February 6, 2015, Qamar, a father of five, was sent to the Detention Centre at Lampur in Narela here on February 7, 2015 for deportation to Pakistan. However, the Pakistan government did not accept his deportation and he is still languishing at the detention centre.
A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant was told by senior advocate Sanjay Parikh that if Qamar is released on reasonable restrictions, he will apply for Indian citizenship as his wife and five children – three sons and two daughters – are all Indian citizens.
The bench said, “We have gone through the file, what can be done in this matter? Anyway, we are issuing notices to see what is happening on the issue of citizenship. Issue notice, returnable in two weeks”. It sought response from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government and listed it for hearing on February 28.
Parikh said that Qamar has been languishing in a detention centre for the past seven years after completing his sentence and he can be released to reside with his family.
According to his daughter and son, who have moved the top court through advocate Srishti Agnihotri, their father Qamar alias Mohammad Kamil was born in India in 1959. “He (Qamar) had gone with his mother from India to Pakistan as a child of around 7-8 years in 1967-1968 on a visa to meet his relatives there. However, his mother died there, and he remained in Pakistan in the care of his relatives”, the plea of habeas corpus filed in the top court said.
It said that Qamar, on attaining adulthood, came back to India on a Pakistani passport in around 1989-1990 and got married to Shehnaaj Begum, an Indian citizen, in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. “Out of this wedlock, five children were born”, the plea said, adding that Qamar has no documentary proof to show that he had gone with his mother to Pakistan in around 1967-68 and his mother died there and therefore, his story has not been believed. “Nevertheless, the undisputed fact is that he came to India around 1989-90 on a passport of Pakistan and did not renew his visa due to lack of education and, subsequently, got married here,” it said.
In Meerut, he was doing menial jobs and residing there along with his family, who all have Aadhaar cards issued by UIDAI, the plea said. Initially, Qamar filed a plea before the Delhi High Court in 2017, praying for his release so that he can stay with his family. During arguments, his counsel had submitted that Qamar would apply for Indian citizenship in accordance with law and also make a representation to the respective authorities giving particulars of all the family members who would stand security in case he is released from the Detention Centre. (PTI)