Telangana HC frees Pak national from prison in Hyderabad, terms state govt's detention 'illegal'
Hyderabad, Jul 23: A 51-year-old Pakistani national was released from a Central Prison here after the Telangana High Court set aside a state government order according permission to the police for detaining him in connection with a case for allegedly obtaining Indian passport fraudulently.
Shaik Gulzar Khan alias Gulzar Massih was released from the Cherlapally Central prison here last week following the orders by a Bench comprising Justice K Lakshman and Justice P Sree Sudha on July 13.
"The GO No. 599 issued by respondent No.1 (Telangana government) is illegal and the same is liable to be set aside," the bench said in its orders, while quashing the government order.
"However, this order will not preclude 4th respondent (Union of India) in completing the process of deportation of the detenu in accordance with law," the High Court order said.
Gulzar Khan, a native of Sialkot district in Punjab province of Pakistan, was accused of forging documents and entering India in 2011.
According to a police official, Gulzar married a woman from Andhra Pradesh and was working as a painter there.
While living in India, without revealing his original identity, he had obtained an Indian passport, besides Aadhaar and voter ID cards allegedly with fake documents, police had said.
In 2019, the city police filed a case against Gulzar Khan and he was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Foreigners Act, and the Passport Act, and arrested from Secunderabad here. Subsequently, a local court granted him bail.
However, following a request by the police to accord permission to detain him till his deportation process to Pakistan is completed, the Telangana government had issued a Government Order (GO) authorising police to detain him in the prison.
The police again took him into custody in February 2022 and he was detained in Cherlapally Central prison since then.
Gulzar Khan's wife filed a petition in the High Court challenging the GO.
M A Shakeel, counsel for the petitioner, argued that the state government has no powers to grant permission to the police to detain a person.
The High Court has quashed the state government's detention order against Gulzar Khan, though the case against him will continue, he said.
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Unemployed 'youngsters like cockroaches' become media, activists; attack system: CJI
New Delhi (PTI): Likening some unemployed youngsters to cockroaches, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday said they go on to "become" media, social media and RTI activists and start attacking the system.
The comments came while a bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was pulling up a lawyer for "pursuing" a senior advocate designation. It said there were already "parasites" in society who attack the system and asked the petitioner whether he wanted to join hands with them.
"The entire world may be eligible to become senior (advocate), but at least you are not entitled," the bench told the petitioner lawyer.
A visibly anguished CJI observed that if the Delhi High Court would confer senior advocate designation upon the petitioner, the apex court would set that aside seeing his professional conduct.
The CJI also referred to the kind of language used by the petitioner on Facebook.
"There are already parasites of society who attack the system and you want to join hands with them?" he said.
"There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone," he said.
The bench also asked the petitioner whether he did not have any other litigation.
"Is this the conduct of a person who seeks to be designated as a senior advocate?" the bench asked.
It said senior advocate designation is something that is conferred on a person and is not to be pursued.
"You are pursuing it. Does it look proper?" the top court said, asking whether a senior advocate designation was a status symbol to be kept ornamentally.
It also observed that it wanted to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the degrees of many of those who were wearing black robes as there were serious doubts over the genuineness of their degrees.
It said the Bar Council of India would never do anything on this issue as they "need their votes".
The petitioner apologised to the bench and sought permission to withdraw the petition. The bench allowed the withdrawal of the petition.
