Gujarat High Court on Thursday permitted the Pakistan citizen Sajjad Vora to join the respondent party to the petition. The court took the decision while hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by the Pakistan High Commission to take Vora’s custody who was arrested in a fake currency case in Surat in 2016.
Gujarat High Court has adjourned the matter till July 21.
A habeas corpus petition was filed by Muni Akhtar Satti, a Pakistan High Commission official in Delhi before Gujarat High Court to obtain the custody who is under illegal detention even after his acquittal confirmed by two courts. The High Commission has also sought a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the illegal detention.
“Following the HC upholding the acquittal, my client has been running from pillar to post to go back. He had approached the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Mumbai, seeking necessary exit permissions so as to return to Pakistan via air, but he was told that he requires a no objection certificate (NOC) from the concerned police station. The same was denied. We made representations at the FRRO and the police station, but to no avail,” stated advocate Aum Kotwal, representing Sajjad.
This is the second time, Vora has moved Gujarat High Court to issue a NOC and let him return to Pakistan. He has approached the High Court last month too, but the matter is pending. The state government had informed the High Court that it will challenge the Sajjad Burhanuddin acquittal in Supreme Court.
As per Kotwal, the state on Thursday submitted that they are in the process of filing the special leave petition (SLP) before the SC and that all necessary documents have been sent to the concerned advocate on record on behalf of the state.” Kotwal stated that to file such an SLP, the time limit is only until October 2019 as the HC upheld the lower decision of acquittal in July 2019.
Sajjad Vora was arrested by Surat railway police alleged of possessing Rs 50,000 fake currency in December 2016. He came to visit his relatives for religious reasons on a one-year visa limit. He was acquitted by the lower court in 2018 as well as by the Gujarat High Court in September 2019.
