STATE Vs. ABDUL RASHID

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the State Government against the acquittal of the respondent, Abdrfi Rashid, who was put on trial on a charge under Section 14 of the foreigners Act, 1946, before a Magistrate of the first class at Darbhanga.

(2.) According to the prosecution, the respondent, who was originally a citizen of India, migrated to Pakistan after the 1st of Maroh 1947 and became a Pakistani national. He came back to India in 1953 on a Pakistani passport and a visa of the B category. He failed to leave India within the scheduled time whereupon he was served with a notice to quit India by the 24th August, 1957. This order not having been complied with, the respondent was prosecuted under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. Section 14 of the Act provided as follows:

(3.) The defence was that the respondent was a citizen of India and that he had never migrated to Pakistan. According to him, he went to Pakistan on railway service without any intention of settling there permanently. In the circumstances, the order, which is said to have been contravened, was illegal and without jurisdiction.