Dismissal from service for marrying Pak woman
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 30: In a plea filed by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan namely Munir Ahmed challenging his dismissal from service for marrying a Pakistani national, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has issued notices to the Director General of CRPF, Commandants of 41 Battalion (Bangrasia Bhopal) and 72 Battalion (Sodra Sunderbani in Rajouri).
Advocate Sumant Sudan appearing vice DSGI Vishal Sharma received notices on behalf of the respondents, who have been directed to file their objections by the next date of hearing scheduled for June 30.
The petitioner had joined the CRPF in 2017 and served in multiple states including Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh. On May 2, he was dismissed from service after it came to light that he had married Menal Khan, a Pakistani national, who is also his cousin.
The dismissal came in the wake of heightened security tensions following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam. In the aftermath, India suspended all visas for Pakistani nationals and downgraded diplomatic ties with Islamabad.
The petitioner’s wife was among the Pakistani nationals marked for deportation, after which petitioner approached the J&K High Court, which ordered stay on her deportation until May 14. Pursuant to this interim order, his wife was brought back from the Attari border to the petitioner’s residence in J&K.
The instant petition challenges petitioner’s termination from service, potentially raising constitutional questions around right to marry, procedural fairness and the limits of state action in service law.
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