E-Paper
Uttarakhand HC reduces jail term of elderly woman with US citizenship
The 51-year-old woman is a US citizen of Pakistani origin and was charged for violating the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.
Uttarakhand High Court has reduced the four-year jail term of a 51-year-old woman to 11 months, said CK Sharma, the woman’s counsel. The woman, Farida Malik, is an American citizen of Pakistani origin.
Malik had been arrested by immigration officials on the Indo-Nepal border in Champawat district on July 12, 2019, for entering the state without valid documents. She was later sentenced to a four-year jail term in March 2020 by a lower court.
Sharma said Malik had challenged the lower court’s judgment of sentencing her to a four-year jail term. “During the hearing, I argued that she is an elderly woman and has not committed any heinous crime here and has already served 11 months in jail. After hearing the matter, the HC reduced her four-year jail term to 11 months, which has been already served by her,” he said.
Sharma said the HC also asked the officials concerned to allow her to get back to her country.
In April last year, the United States embassy in Delhi had also written a letter to the chief minister of Uttarakhand to deport Malik who was sentenced to four-year imprisonment by the local court for violating the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.
The letter was written by then US ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster to the then Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. “Unfortunately she (Malik) had left her passport in a hotel in Nepal. However, rather than sending her back to secure the proper documents to enter India, Indian authorities arrested and jailed her,” the letter stated.
The letter further read, “It is Malik’s first offence... she has already served 8-months in judicial custody at Almora jail. As per her medical record, Malik suffers from acute bipolar disorder - a mental health condition that compromises her ability to make sound decisions. She also suffers from diabetes and other severe health problems related to her back and spine...”
Farida Malik, daughter of Sultan Akhtar, was nabbed by the immigration officials at Banbasa check post on July 12, 2019, while she was trying to enter India. She was coming from Kathmandu and posed as a Nepalese citizen but was caught at the border.
Since she could not produce her passport and visa, she was arrested for violating Section 3 of the Passport Act (person entering India shall be in possession of valid passport) and section 14 of the Foreigners Act (remaining in any area in India without a visa), an official said.
After her arrest, she was produced in the local court from where she was sent to Lohaghat Jail in Champawat. Later, she was moved to Almora jail. The High Court had granted her bail in December 2019 with a condition that she will not leave Almora without the court’s permission till the case is settled.
