SDJM, Raxaul, rejects bail plea of Iran national

Satish Aditya
Motihari : Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Raxaul, East Champaran district, Sarvesh Kumar Mishra, on July 26, 2019, rejected the bail
petition filed by Md Hashim Saifi, a citizen of Iran arrested at Raxaul on Indo–Nepal border with suspicious travel documents on June 7, 2019. Raxaul  police filed chargesheet against Saifi booked under Section 447 of IPC and Section 14 of Foreigners Act. The investigating officer had found the allegations levelled against the Iran national as true.

Rajeev Kumar  Dwivedi, advocate of Saifi, said that the court found the latter’s citizenship suspect and rejected his bail plea. “We will move the  higher court against the order of lower court,” he said.
Saifi was arrested at Raxaul Immigration Office on Indo-Nepal border with a minor girl while entering the country from Nepal
side. Two passports were recovered from his possession. One was issued from Iran and the second passport was issued
from Pakistan.
According to the Iranian passport, the foreigner was identified as Mohammad Hasan Saifi, a native of Khabyan, 6, Ghohaddast in Tehran. The passport was issued on May 29, 2018, and is valid up to May 28, 2023. The second passport of the foreign national was issued from Pakistan in which his name is Ali Ahamad, son of Mohammad Ali. This passport was issued
from Pakistan on April 19, 2015, and is valid up to April 17, 2020.
Incidentally, the photographs on two the different passports are same. Sanjay Kumar Jha, SDPO, Raxaul, had said the arrested foreigner was talking in Irani and other languages. NIA had taken Saifi on 48 hours remand and interrogated him. Initially, the court had refused to grant police remand asking the investigating agency to establish his links with terror outfits. The court had observed that merely possessing a foreign passport doesn’t mean that the man in question is involved in terror activities.