PHC disposes of writ petition Indian citizen to be deported after completion of prison term

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has disposed of writ petition of an Indian prisoner after the Ministry of Interior assured the court that he would be deported to India after completion of his prison term on December 15.

However, a two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim dismissed the plea of the Indian prisoner, Hamid Nihal Ansari, seeking remissions in his prison term as awarded to other prisoners in the country.

Deputy attorney general, representing the Ministry of Interior, submitted a written statement of the ministry. It was claimed that under the exchange of prisoners' agreement between Pakistan and India, the Indian prisoner would be handed over to Indian authorities through the Wagah border within 24 hours after completion of his prison term.

The bench was hearing writ petition of the Indian convict, seeking remission in his prison term.

During the hearing into the case, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the Indian prisoner was not convicted for any terrorist activity and thus entitled to remissions. He said if the Indian prisoner was granted remissions, his prison term is complete and he can be deported to India.

The Indian national, Hamid Nehal Ansari, is languishing in the Central Prison Mardan, where he has been serving the sentence of three-year imprisonment awarded to him by a military court in December 2015 on espionage charges and involvement in anti-state activities.

In his written reply to the high court, Mardan Central Prison superintendent stated that ever since Hamid Nihal Ansari arrived at the jail on August 8, 2017, he has been kept in a solitary confinement cell, segregated from other prisoners in the jail owing to the nature of his crime.

It was stated that he has been convicted on the charges of spying and belongs to an enemy country that is India, which amounts to anti-state activities.

"For this reason, he is exempted from the ambit of special remissions granted by the federal and provincial governments and the inspector general of prisons," he added.

Talking about his right to remission in the sentence, the jail superintendent said that under Section 21 (F) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, no remission in the sentence is allowed to any person who is convicted and sentenced for any anti-state offence.

"The crimes of the petitioner are severe in nature, due to which he has not been granted any remission on the same analogy," he explained, adding that no remissions are allowed to a convict of a military court.

However, Qazi Anwar strongly opposed this argument. He contended that it is not for the superintendent of a jail, rather for the court to decide whether a prisoner is entitled to ordinary remission or not.

The Defence Ministry in its comments had claimed that the petitioner was convicted by the Field General Court Martial on the charges of espionage and anti-state activities and therefore, he was not entitled to any remission.

The petitioner had gone missing after he was taken into custody by the intelligence agencies and local police in Kohat district in November 2012. Finally, in reply to a habeas corpus petition filed by his mother Fauzia Ansari, the high court was informed on January 13 that he was in custody of the army and was being tried by a military court. Later he was awarded three years imprisonment by a military court.

Nehal Ansari, a 31-year-old MBA degree holder, was a teacher at the Mumbai Management College.