આ અબ્દુલ સરીફ છે કોણ? પાકીસ્તાની કે પછી ઈરાની?
ભારતમાં બંધારણે દેશના નાગરીકો અને ગુનેગારો માટે ઘણાં હક્ક આપેલ છે.
જસ્ટીસ આર. એમ. લોઢા અને જસ્ટીસ એ.આર. દવેની બેન્ચ સમક્ષ સુપરીમ કોર્ટમાં પ્રાધ્યાપક ભીમ સીંહે પીઆઈએલ ફાઈલ કરેલ છે કે દેશની જેલોમાં જે પાકીસ્તાનીઓને રાખવામાં આવેલ છે એમની સજાની મુદ્દત પુરી થઈ ગઈ હોય તો છોડી દેવા જોઈએ.
આ અબ્દુલ સરીફને ૧૯૯૭માં સજાની મુદ્દત પુરી થઈ ગઈ છે અને છેલ્લા પંદર વરસથી જેલમાં છે અથવા સબડે છે અને ખબર નથી આ આ અબ્દુલ સરીફ કોણ છે?
ભારતમાં બંધારણે દેશના નાગરીકો અને ગુનેગારો માટે ઘણાં હક્ક આપેલ છે.
જસ્ટીસ આર. એમ. લોઢા અને જસ્ટીસ એ.આર. દવેની બેન્ચ સમક્ષ સુપરીમ કોર્ટમાં પ્રાધ્યાપક ભીમ સીંહે પીઆઈએલ ફાઈલ કરેલ છે કે દેશની જેલોમાં જે પાકીસ્તાનીઓને રાખવામાં આવેલ છે એમની સજાની મુદ્દત પુરી થઈ ગઈ હોય તો છોડી દેવા જોઈએ.
આ અબ્દુલ સરીફને ૧૯૯૭માં સજાની મુદ્દત પુરી થઈ ગઈ છે અને છેલ્લા પંદર વરસથી જેલમાં છે અથવા સબડે છે અને ખબર નથી આ આ અબ્દુલ સરીફ કોણ છે?
ReplyDeletehttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Supreme-Court-aghast-at-detention-of-foreigner-for-15-years/articleshow/16843558.cms
NEW DELHI: Is Abdul Sharief a Pakistani or an Iranian? For the last 15 years, the Centre made no serious attempt to determine his nationality, quietly forgetting Sharief after consigning him to a detention centre in Amritsar.
But there is now a ray of hope for Sharief as the gross abuse of his constitutional guarantee to life and liberty by apathetic authorities has riled the Supreme Court which minced no words in expressing shock and anguish.
Asked when Sharief, son of Ghoolam Sharief, was arrested, the Union government failed to give the information on Tuesday to a bench of Justices R M Lodha and A R Dave during the hearing of a PIL by Prof Bhim Singh seeking release of Pakistani prisoners lodged in Indian jails despite completing their sentences.
Although the date of arrest was not available, additional solicitor general P P Malhotra said Sharief completed his prison term way back in 1997. This meant the foreigner had been kept in detention for the last 15 years. Asked by the bench why he remained behind bars, Malhotra said, "He cannot be allowed to be released to mingle with the general public."
The bench then curtly told the ASG, "You cannot allow him to mingle with general public but would keep him intermingled with hardcore criminals in jail? We are pained and concerned about the man. Life and liberty are two most important rights guaranteed under the Constitution not only to Indians but also to foreigners."
Asked about the delay in establishing the foreigner's identity, the government said initially they had suspected him to be a Pakistani. But later, the Pakistan high commission informed the government that he could be an Iranian.
Malhotra said that in February this year, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) wrote to the Iranian embassy seeking help in his identification. The bench asked, "If tomorrow the Iranian embassy says that he was from some other country, will the foreigner continue to be under detention?"
The bench added, "In our view, the continued detention even in a detention centre, when he has served out his sentence way back on July 17, 1997, is not only improper but highly deplorable. All steps must be taken by concerned officials and authorities in getting his nationality established so that he can be repatriated to the country he belongs to.
"We expect the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of home affairs to take all necessary steps in having the nationality of Abdul Sharief established without any further loss of time so that he can be repatriated without any further delay." The court fixed November 29 for further hearing on the issue.
The bench noted that the Pakistan high commission too had not heeded the court's repeated requests to establish the nationality of 24 more prisoners who were ready for repatriation. However, the government said it had released and repatriated 46 Pakistani fishermen.
The court also asked the ASG to find out details of the steps taken by the government in contacting foreign governments to establish the nationality of 16 other foreign nationals who have been kept in prison because of non-identification.
Times View
It is indeed shocking that a man should have remained in jail for 15 years after his sentence has been served out merely because officialdom is unable to ascertain what his nationality is. As the court has correctly pointed out, the right to life and freedom cannot be so casually snatched away from someone. Even if the person happens not be a citizen, it reflects poorly on the rule of law in our country if such gross injustice is done to him. The government must at least now show the kind of urgency it should have done many years ago and make arrangements for him to be released and sent home, wherever that may be.
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/10/16/439--SC-concerned-over-liberty-of-prisoners-from-abroad-.html
ReplyDeleteNew Delhi,Immigration/Law/Rights, Tue, 16 Oct 2012 IANS
SC concerned over liberty of prisoners from abroad
New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) Liberty is the most precious of all constitutional rights, the Supreme Court Tuesday said, underlining its concern for safeguarding this right of every human being, including prisoners from other countries.
"To us liberty is very very important. It is the most precious right that the constitution has given us. We are concerned about every human being," said the apex court bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice Anil R. Dave.
Admonishing the central government for the way it was dealing with prisoners from other countries who have already completed their prison terms or were under trial, Justice Lodha said: "You can't throw Article 21 to winds and say what we can do."
The observation came during the hearing on a petition by Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh.
He had sought the release and deportation of foreign prisoners, particularly from Pakistan, who had served their sentences and were no longer required by the law in India.
The court expressed its anguish when Bhim Singh told the court that a prisoner Abdul Sharif was still under detention for the last 15 years even after completing his sentence July 17, 1997.
Earlier Sharif was assumed to be a Pakistani national but later the Pakistan High Commission told the Indian government that he was an Iranian national.
"It is only after apex court's intervention that things are moving. If we close the case then these prisoners would be languishing in the jails," Justice Lodha said as Additional Solicitor General P.P. Malhotra told the court that "things were moving".
"We are not interested in holding then (foreign prisoners) even for a day. Why should we spend our money on them?" Malhotra said.
If the Iranian embassy has not responded then put him in detention, the court said. "Can this court say keep him in continued prison. How can constitutional principles permit him to be in jail?"
As Malhotra contended that "this man can't be allowed to intermingle with common people", Justice Lodha retorted back "Can he be allowed to intermingle with hardened criminals".
Malhotra said that Sharif was not in jail as he has been shifted to a barrack designated as detention centre within the Amritsar Jail complex.
The government gave the court a list of 29 prisoners out of which the nationality of the four had been confirmed by the Pakistani High Commission and they had been deported.
The court was told that in the case of the remaining 25 prison inmates the nationality was not clear.
The court said that the government could not have done much as the foreign diplomatic missions were not co-operating in confirming the nationality of the prisoners who had completed their prison terms.
The court dropped the contempt proceedings against a Jammu and Kashmir home department official after she tendered apology for filing an affidavit having a factual error.
Meanwhile the apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the listing of the case of four Pakistani prisoners of war who were captured in the 1965 war in the Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir before the bench of Justice Lodha and Justice Dave.
The court would next hear the case Nov 29