A Pakistani man who had been living in India for 27 years was deported to his country on March 12, according to the Mumbai Police. Siraj Khan came to India at the age of 10 years and stayed on.
Khan lived with his wife and three children in the Antop Hill area of Mumbai. He was taken by the police to the Attari border in Amritsar in Punjab for his deportation.
“Since all the cases against Khan were disposed of by the court and one case of violation of a detention order was withdrawn by the government, he was deported to Pakistan on March 12,” Bhagwat Bansod, senior inspector at the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station in Mumbai, told the Times of India.
The Pakistani authorities were earlier informed by the Indian government about Khan’s deportation, and he was sent to them after obtaining a no-objection certificate.
Khan’s wife accompanied him to the Bandra Terminus from where he and the police team boarded the train for Amritsar on March 10. His wife took selfies with him at the railway station.
His case was taken up in 2009 when he tried to cross into his native village in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He had sought help from the police to go to the village but they asked for documents to prove his nationality, which he did not have. He was arrested by the Crime Branch for staying in India without valid permission. He then served a six-month jail term, and in 2014 was convicted under the Foreigners Act, 1946. His wife appealed and received a month-long stay since his application seeking citizenship was with the Ministry of External Affairs.
She asked for his release since he was in custody since the conviction. However, a bench of justices RM Savant and SV Kotwal held that he would be deported since he was convicted under the Foreigners Act.
According to the police, Khan can return to India with legal documents or take his family with him to Pakistan.