Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission has asked the state police to explain why they have kept in custody a man who claimed while drunk that he’s a Pakistani.
Shafaque Ahmed Siddiqui, a tailor, has been in police custody since 2005. Siddiqui, who claims to have stitched clothes for actors Rajesh Khanna and Shabana Azmi in the film Avtar, fears the police plan to send him to Pakistan.
Siddiqui was detained at Bhopal’s Bajaria police station when in 2005 he approached police while drunk and claimed that he is a Pakistani. He's been in jail ever since, despite protesting his innocence.
"I have been living in India for the past 28 years. I was born in Meerut with a family and two sons in India. Why I should go to Pakistan is beyond me. Even if they send me there, I'll come back,” he said
Superintendent of Police Ananat Kumar Singh said, "We have tried to deport him but there has been a procedural delay. We are awaiting the Pakistani government's response. Once travel documents are ready he would be sent to Pakistan."
The Pakistan government has not yet corresponding to continual letters from the Bhopal police.
Acting on a complaint from a woman claiming to be his wife, Madhya Pradesh state Human Rights Commission, has served notice on the police asking why the 65-has been in custody for so long.
For the hopeless Siddiqui who feared that he would die at the police station itself, there now emerge signs of relief.
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