The Karnataka High Court on Monday, July 6, put a halt to the deportation of a Muslim man who claimed that he was wrongly accused of being a Bangladeshi national. The man identified as Abdul Rahim said he is by birth an Indian citizen and was born in Delhi’s Seemapuri in 1979. Furthermore, he claimed that he has lived and worked in India all his life. He said in 2014, he moved to Bengaluru, where he claimed to have started a waste management business under a government-registered proprietorship.
The judge observed that Rahim said that he is the same person who was held guilty by an Uttar Pradesh court for allegedly entering the country from Bangladesh without documents. The judge also observed that an appeal against the conviction is pending in the Allahabad High Court. Observing this, the High Court directed the authorities to halt the deportation of Abdul Rahim until the next hearing, which is scheduled on July 14. Following this, the court directed the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) to find out whether a case pending in the Allahabad High Court is related to Rahim and whether it involves the same person as in the present case.
Rahim was detained on March 5 by the Bengaluru police in a drive aimed to identify alleged undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. The same day, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office issued an order that directed Rahim to be given to Bengaluru’s Utile Foundation detention center in Bengaluru.
Rahim’s advocate, Clifton D. Rozario, asserted he is an Indian citizen by birth and provided documents that included his Aadhar card, birth certificate, Permanent Account Number (PAN), voter identity card, driving license, and other family-related documents to assert his citizenship and residence in India.
He also said that the police issued detention orders without giving Rahim an opportunity to be heard and said that the process has violated Rahim’s fundamental rights under Articles 14, 21, and 22 of the Constitution. Rozario said that his detention created a hindrance in Rahim’s daily life and means of earning, which led to hardships for his wife and infant child.
