Had Azhar Ali fallen into the hands of some Hindi filmmaker in his pursuit of betrayed love, his ordeal might have spawned an international film themed around cross-border romance involving India, Pakistan, Nepal and Malaysia.
Unfortunately for him, he fell into the hands of Chhindwara police officials. For six months now, Mr. Ali has been languishing in the Chhindwara district jail.
The 27-year-old Pakistani citizen had come to India in September 2009 to find the woman he claimed to have loved and married — Ratna Soni, a resident of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. According to Mr. Ali, who is from the Cheena village near Lahore in Pakistan, he met Ms. Soni in Malaysia where she had come with her troupe to perform.
The two fell in love and got married in May 2009 in Nepal, claims Mr. Ali. Later, Ms. Soni reportedly took over Rs 1 lakh from him and came to India without his knowledge and later asked him to come to India and take her back with him. He came under the police scanner after he was beaten up by Ms. Soni’s troupe during a performance when he tried to meet her.
Mr. Ali has been booked under provisions of the Foreigners Act for crossing over into the Indian territory illegally and under the Passport Act and section 467 and 478 of the IPC for allegedly carrying a forged Nepalese passport and tampering with official documents.
“There definitely has been no suspicion of an act of espionage on Ali’s part but he is an alien and that too from an enemy nation (Pakistan) and so it certainly is cause for alarm,” Chhindwara SP Ashish Ashish told The Hindu over phone.
Over the last six months two lawyers have given up on Mr. Ali’s case due to its sensitive nature.
Mr. Ali’s current lawyer Shiv Kumar Sahare, who said the case has now gone again to the lower court, expressed concern over the way investigations have been carried.
“Ali’s nationality has still not been confirmed,” said Mr. Sahare. “Whether he is a Pakistani or Nepalese citizen is still not clear and the police should confirm with the Pakistan and Nepalese embassy about this,” he said.
The Police, according to Dr. Ashish, has been in contact with the Nepalese Embassy over the issue.
“We need to confirm and prove whether his passport was actually a forged one,” said the SP.
According to sources, while getting Mr. Ali out on bail is possible, the problem is nobody wants to risk being a guarantor for the bail application of a Pakistani.
