Mumbai: Three years after a deportation sword, hanging over a 53-year-old Mumbaikar, was finally removed, the man, whose litigation was termed as “unique” even by the Bombay High Court, finally breathe a sigh of relief on Thursday. Born in Pakistan but living in India for more than five decades, Jogeshwari-based Asif Karadia was given Indian citizenship on Thursday. He has been finally recognised as an “Indian” by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The development came on the heels on the Ministry giving an undertaking to the bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka that it will recognise Karadia as an Indian within 10 days. The undertaking was given after Justice Oka pulled up the ministry and its officials for dragging their feet in the matter. But it was not a cake walk for Karadia.
To be recognised as an Indian, he ran from pillar to post. Right from trying his best to convince the authorities in Delhi to issue him an Indian passport, to knocking at the doors of the Bombay High Court, Karadia faced much hardship trying to prove himself as Indian. He had approached the HC through his counsels Ashish Mehta and Sujay Kantawala after his Long Term Visa (LTV) expired and a deportation notice was issued against him.
He told the HC he did not have a Pakistani passport or any other valid identity documents issued by the government of the neighbouring country. According to Karadia, though he was born in Karachi, he was brought to India by his mother when he was just a few days old and has stayed in Mumbai ever since.
His father and mother were born in Gujarat before partition, and his wife and three kids are all Indian citizens. Karadia said he had been living in India, earning a living by working at a local restaurant, paying taxes and had Indian ID proofs such as an Aadhaar card, a ration card, a PAN card and even a voter ID card, but no passport.
Despite these documents, though the government agreed to grant him Indian citizenship, it insisted on him first giving up the citizenship of the neighbouring country. However, he maintained that he was never served with such a document by any country.
