Pakistani Born Hyderabad Resident Landed in Trouble When He Produced Indian Passport

Hyderabad: A man who claimed to be a victim of police harassment over allegations of being a Pakistani national landed in trouble after producing an Indian passport before the Telangana High Court, prompting the court to permit authorities to initiate action against him in accordance with law.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin on February 25 dismissed the appeal filed by Syed Ali Hussain Razvi after he sought to withdraw the case, while granting liberty to law enforcement authorities to proceed against him.

The appellant, a 35-year-old resident of Yakutpura in Hyderabad, had approached the division bench challenging the order of a single judge bench of the Telangana High Court, which had earlier declined to intervene with police action directing him to apply for a long-term visa (LTV). His contention was that he had been living in India since when he was an infant after his mother returned to Hyderabad following marital disputes with his father, a Pakistani national.

According to him, his mother, originally from Hyderabad, had married the Pakistani national and moved to Karachi. Due to alleged domestic issues, she returned to India along with her son and had been residing in Hyderabad since the mid-1990s.

The petitioner claimed he was born in Hyderabad and had lived in India for over three decades. He alleged that officials of the Special Branch were repeatedly visiting his residence and harassing him to apply for the LTV, treating him as a Pakistani national despite his long stay in India.

He contended that he had never applied for an Indian passport and insisted that he was not a foreign national requiring an LTV. He had submitted under pressure from the authorities, he had applied for the LTV and it was pending. Based on his submissions, the single judge had asked the authorities to consider his LTV application.

However, during the course of the hearing before the division bench, he produced an Indian passport stating that it had been issued in 2022. This came as a surprise since the passport authorities and the police had informed the court that no passport had been issued in his name. Moreover, when his nationality and citizenship were in question, he had obtained the Indian passport.

The bench questioned why he had concealed the passport and had not shown it to the police who had allegedly been visiting his residence regarding his immigration status. “We were hearing him patiently under the impression that some innocent citizen is being harassed, but the progression of the matter indicates otherwise,” the bench observed.

The court also noted inconsistencies in his claims, pointing out that he first produced a photostat copy of a passport under one name and later showed a passport bearing a different name, both claimed to be his. Observing that the developments raised serious doubts about his conduct, the bench dismissed the appeal as withdrawn and granted liberty to the authorities to take action in accordance with law.