Further detention would be violative of Article 21: Allahabad High Court orders deportation of Pakistani national

The Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the Central government to deport a Pakistani national to his country after noting that he had served the sentence awarded to him [Taseen Azeem @ Lareab Khan v. State of UP]..A Bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Saroj Yadav held that further detention of the man would be in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and recorded,"...we are of the considered view that since convict/respondent has already served out the sentence awarded to him and he is a foreign national without any passport or visa, therefore he must be deported to his own country. The Union of India/respondent No.3 and respondent No.4 are directed to deport him to his own country in accordance with law, unless required in any other case.".The Court was hearing a habeas corpus plea by the Pakistani national for his release and deportation to his country as well as an appeal by the State seeking enhancement of his sentence..The man was arrested by a Special Task Force, which claimed that he was illegally living in India under a fake identity while working as an agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and was transmitting confidential information regarding the Indian Army through email..The trial court found him guilty of the offences of forgery under the Indian Penal Code, as well as spying and wrongful communication under the Official Secrets Act and provisions of the Foreigners Act. Thus, he was sentenced to a total period of eight years' imprisonment, which he completed in 2014.In another case, he was convicted for assault to deter a public servant from performing his duties, intentional insult and criminal intimidation and violations of Foreigners Act. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for these offences, which was also complete in 2018..The convict submitted that since 2018, he was under illegal detention of the jail authorities. He also argued that all evidence against him was false, and that he was implicated because he was a Pakistani citizen. He conceded that he came to India without a passport, but emphasised that he did commit any act against the government..Amicus curiae and Senior Advocate IB Singh also brought to the Court's attention the fact that none of the allegations made by the State regarding anti-national activities on the part of the accused were proven. In this light, the trial court had acquitted him for those offences.It was also noted that the convict was not provided any legal assistance during trial to defend him. "The counsel who wanted to help the petitioner were beaten and threatened not to defend the petitioner, as such, no proper defense was laid before the Trial Court," the order recorded..While calling for the man to be deported, the Bench placed reliance on the case of Chairman Railway Board v Chandrima Das (MRS), in which the Supreme Court observed that fundamental rights under Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution were available to non-citizens as well."In the present matter admittedly the convict/respondent has served out the sentence awarded to him in the matter under appeal as well as under another case which was registered against him on the date when he completed the sentence awarded in the present case," noted the Bench..The State was represented by government advocate SN Tilhari, while amicus Singh, assisted by Advocates Sajeet Kumar Singh and Beena Rajesh, represented the convict..[Read Order]