SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on a petition challenging the dismissal of a force jawan for allegedly concealing his marriage with a Pakistani woman.Munir Ahmad, a constable with CRPF’s 41st battalion, was early this month dismissed from service for concealing his marriage to his Pakistani cousin Minal Khan and also knowingly harbouring her beyond the validity of her visa. “His actions were found to be in violation of service conduct and detrimental to national security,” the CRPF had said. The CRPF had ordered an internal inquiry into the conduct of Ahmed after his Pakistani wife was ordered to be deported as India, in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, revoked visas for Pakistani nationals. She was taken to the Attari-Wagah border for deportation but brought back after the J&K and Ladakh High Court granted her a 10-day stay, allowing her to return to Jammu pending further hearings on her long-term visa application, on April 29. Ahmed, however, challenged the impugned order in the High Court, stating that he kept his seniors in the loop about his nuptial plan from day one. He claimed that he wrote a letter to his senior on December 31, 2022 about his plan of marrying his cousin who lives in Pakistan and in response was asked to complete formalities like enclosing copies of his passport, a wedding card and affidavits and the proposed marriage destination which he did immediately. As per his claim, he received a go-ahead from the CRPF headquarters on April 30, 2024 and, regarding the request for the issuance of a ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’, he was told that such a provision is not available, and that since he has already completed the formalities by informing the government about his marriage to a foreign national in accordance with the rules he can go ahead with his plan. The petition contends that his dismissal was “arbitrary, capricious, and whimsical.” Justice Javed Iqbal Wani passed the order after hearing initial arguments in the petition filed through Advocate Ankur Sharma. The court has asked the MHA and CRPF to respond before the next hearing, scheduled for June 30. Ahmed told the court that his wife is the daughter of his maternal uncle who migrated from Jammu’s Bhalwal tehsil in 1947, reiterating that theirs was an arranged marriage and the media reports suggesting that they met online and subsequently got married were false and concocted. Besides their Nikah nama and other documents, Ahmed has in support of his petition presented letters of recommendation from senior BJP leaders including a letter written by Rajya Sabha MP Gulam Ali Khatana to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in February 2025 requesting urgent visa clearance for Ahmed’s wife. A similar letter was sent in February 2024 by Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma to the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra.
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