The case was registered on the complaint of a now retired senior inspector attached to the Special Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Police crime branch. (Representational Image) In its detailed order rejecting the anticipatory bail to Reshma Khan, the wife of BJP Mumbai vice-president Hyder Azam, a sessions court said that prima facie, it appears that the birth certificate submitted with her passport application is forged. Khan has been booked for allegedly forging documents to pass off as an Indian citizen.
“Custodial interrogation of the applicant is certainly necessary in the facts and circumstances of the case to investigate as to how the birth certificate was forged, where it was forged, who else are involved in the same act. Having regard to that there is prima facie case against the applicant and her custodial interrogation is necessary, this court is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the applicant,” the court said. Khan’s anticipatory bail was rejected on Monday.
The case was registered on the complaint of a now retired senior inspector attached to the Special Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Police crime branch. The complaint alleged that a scrutiny of records revealed that Khan entered India without any documents, and secured the documents for citizenship on the basis of a forged birth certificate in an attempt to get an Indian passport despite being a Bangladesh national.
In her plea, Khan called it a case of falsely branding an Indian citizen as a Bangladeshi. She submitted that her documents show she is an Indian and the Foreigners Act was invoked against her due to political intentions. She said she is ready to undergo a DNA test. She also submitted the charge of cheating or forgery cannot be made since she had not sought the passport. The prosecution opposed her plea stating that the inquiry had begun in 2017 and there was prima facie material that she had forged documents. The court referred to the documents stating that her birth certificate showed it was issued in West Bengal while she claimed her birth place is in Bihar. The prosecution also said that authorities in West Bengal had said there was no record of her documents.
“It is apparent that the birth certificate used by the applicant while applying for passport was not genuine and is a forged one,” the court said. It said it was not clear which documents Khan furnished to obtain her PAN and Aadhar card. It said there were witness statements of people known to her family for 50 years. It said no conclusion can be drawn and further investigation is needed.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
