Expressing serious concern over their prolonged imprisonment, Indian Supreme Court directed the government to release and repatriate within four weeks 61 Pakistani nationals languishing in jails in India despite having undergone their punishment for various offences.
The apex court said though India has a better track record of treating cases pertaining to foreign nationals than other countries, yet it needs to show some "urgency" in such cases as even foreign nationals were entitled to protection of Article 21(personal liberty). The foreign nationals were arrested more than a decade ago on charge of indulging in militant activities, border crossing, causing public breach and other offences. Though most of them have served their sentence, they continue to languish in jails without being released or repatriated, according to a PIL filed by Bhim Singh of J&K Panthers Party.
It was alleged that Indian government was not taking adequate steps to provide them consular access to Pakistan High Commission for their deportation. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramanium to conduct verification of the claims and pass necessary orders for their repatriation. The bench asked the government to bring in a suitable mechanism to ensure that such foreign nationals are not forced to remain in jails as courts are being frequently flooded with complaints about Pakistani nationals being incarcerated in jails despite having serving their sentence.
"We deeply appreciated your efforts in this regard. But we feel a little more urgency is required in matters relating to Article 21 (personal liberty). Our record in this regard is better than many other countries. But we expect a sense of urgency," the bench said when Subramanium submitted that the government has been examining each case individually and repatriating a large number of Pakistani nationals over the years.
However, the bench was not impressed with arguments and commented "we are really shocked that it has taken years for release of prisoners even after they have satisfactorily completed their sentence. This is a very serious matter. We can't overlook it. The deportation (of 61 prisoners) must take place within 15 days," the bench said.
But, Solicitor General submitted that he needs time to verify allegation vis-a-vis 61 Pakistani nationals and gave undertaking to the court that their cases would be verified and if found true would be released in next four weeks even without waiting for any formal order from the court. The bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.