STATE Vs. ASHFAQ AHMAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal on behalf of the State against the order of the Additional Sessions Judge of Bijnor by which he acquitted the respondent Ashfaq Ahmad in respect of an offence under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946.

(2.) The facts leading up to this appeal are not disputed. The respondent Ashfaq Ahmad was a Pakistani national. He came to India under a passport No. 348864 dated the 7th of August 1955 issued in his favour by the Government of Pakistan. The High Commissioner for India in Pakistan granted him the necessary visa which permitted him to stay in India till the 19th of January 1956. On the basis of that passport and visa he entered India on the 2nd of November 1955. The visa was extended first till the 14th of March 1956, then to the 13th of June 1956, then to the 13th of September 1956, and lastly till the 29th of October 1956. At the time of the last extension of the visa the time limit fixed for his exit from India was extended to the 1st of November 1956. Thereafter the visa was not extended. The respondent did not leave India after the expiry of his visa and even after he had got an exit endorsement extended first till the 17th of June 1957 and then till the 22nd of October 1957. The exit period also was not extended after the last mentioned date. He submitted an application to the Central Government for being registered as a citizen of India, but it is not known what happened to that application. In any case there is nothing to show that it was granted. On the 13th of September 1957 the Superintendent of Police of Bijnor, acting as Civil Authority, served a notice on the respondent informing him of the fact that he had been overstaying in India since the 30th of October 1956, that his stay in India beyond that date was illegal and that he was liable to be prosecuted under the Indian Foreigners Act. He was told in the same notice that if he did not leave India within thirty days of the service of the notice his prosecution under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act would be launched. The notice was not complied with. In response to it the respondent submitted an application to the District Magistrate of Bijnor in which he said that he had applied for being registered as a citizen of India, that he had obtained an exit endorsement up to the 22nd of October 1957 and that he may be allowed to slay in India pending the decision of his application by the Central Government. As, however, the period of his visa had not been extended it was not found possible to grant his request. A case was thereupon registered against him for his contravention of Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and he was duly prosecuted on that basis, after the sanction of the District Magistrate for the prosecution had been obtained.

(3.) The respondent admitted that he had come to India after obtaining a passport from the Pakistan Government and that he had overstayed the period of his visa. He, however, said that as he had applied for being registered as an Indian citizen it became necessary for him to stay here till his request had been considered by the Central Government. At the trial the respondent also denied that he was a foreigner.