Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has upheld its order directing deportation to Pakistan of a couple who had arrived in Srinagar in 1988.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal dismissed appeal against Court’s single bench verdict earlier this year, directing the couple, Mohd Khalil Qazi (88) and Arifa Qazi (61) residing at Baha-ud-din Sahib here, to be deported to Pakistan. The coup had filed a petition in 1990 to challenge the government order of their deportation to Pakistan. Arifa had contended that she was born in Srinagar on 23 April 1962 and claimed to be a permanent resident of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, along with her parents. However she said that with Qazi being her cousin she married him in Rawalpindi in December 1986.
Thereafter the couple submitted that they came to Srinagar in July 1988 on the basis of their Pakistani passports.
Referring to of the Citizenship Act of 1955, the court’s single bench had noted that in terms of legislation’s Section 9(1), “a citizen who voluntarily acquires citizenship of another country after commencement of the 1955 Act or between 26th January, 1950 and date of commencement of the 1955 Act, upon such acquisition, such citizenship automatically cease to be citizen of India.”
“Petitioner No. 1 (Mohd Khalil Qazi) ceased to be a citizen of India as he migrated to Pakistan and is a citizen of Pakistan. Petitioner No. 2 (Arifa Qazi) has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of Pakistan after her marriage and their son is a citizen of Pakistan by birth,” the court had said, adding, “Therefore, immediately upon acquiring the citizenship of Pakistan, they cease to be citizens of India. Thus, voluntary acquisition of citizenship of another country by an Indian citizen results in the termination of his Indian citizenship.”
Uphold the verdict, the division bench found glaring contradictions in Khalil Qazi’s story. Though he claimed to have been stranded in Pakistan since 1948, his own school certificate showed he studied in Srinagar between 1955 and 1957, proving concealment of facts, the DB said. “The appellants (couple) have not approached this Court with clean hands and concocted false stories to prolong their illegal stay,” the division bench said and ruled that the couple, having no valid visa or document, “cannot remain in India even for a second.” (With inputs from agencies)