SHAIKH ISTIYAQ AHMED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the parties.

(2.) Shaikh Istiyaq Ahmed an Indian National and citizen of India has invoked writ jurisdiction of this Court initially seeking revision of his release date and seeking his release with effect from 17.11.2018. The petition however, came to be extensively amended to seek relief of quashing and setting aside of order dated 03.12.2018 passed by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, by which the prayer made by the petitioner for reduction of his sentence under the Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 came to be turned down on the ground that the sentence imposed on him by the Mauritius Court is not in consonance with the sentence imposed by the contracting State, thereby rejecting his prayer for adopting his sentence from 26 years to 10 years.

(3.) In order to adjudicate the issue involved, it would be necessary to delve into the chronology of facts leading to the filing of present petition. The petitioner, an Indian National and a citizen of India was charged with an offence of willfully, unlawfully and knowingly in possession of dangerous drugs for the purposes of distribution in Mauritius. He was charged for carrying 152.8 gms of heroin powder with (a) 15.9 grams contained in a double plastic sachet, and (b) 136.9 grams contained in 39 white plastic capsules.