This is a story of love and quirks of fate which could possibly make the cut for a Bollywood potboiler. Way back in 1976, this Bangladeshi national visited Iran illegally via India and Pakistan and found his lady love there.
In 2007, he temporarily returned to Bangladesh, keen to dispose of his property there, and then settle in Iran for good. But the heavens seem to have willed otherwise. Much as he would like to be reunited with his Iranian wife, he is currently cooling his heels in an Indian jail.
Meet Mohammed Tahir Zulfikar Haji Mohammed Sheikh, who is serving a two-year jail sentence pronounced by additional district session judge, AM Bhimani, on Wednesday last for overstaying in India after coming to this country on Indian visa in January last year. Policemen and prosecution lawyer sympathise with him, but that can be of little solace to him.
Circa 1976. Tahir came to India illegally and then crossed over to Pakistan through land route. From there, he went to Iran. He fell in love with an Iranian girl there and married her. Decades later, in 2007, he returned to Bangladesh to dispose of his property and then return to Iran. But as bad luck could have it, he lost his Iranian passport, making it difficult for him to return.
This made Tahir decide to try the ‘old route’ to return to Iran. He came to India on a Bangladeshi passport with an Indian visa, which was valid for one month from January 28, 2008 to February 27, 2008. But he failed to sneak into Pakistan from Jammu and Kashmir border this time. Then, he came to Kutch and stayed at Hajipir.
When he went to Narayan Sarovar, he was caught by police on April 16, 2008. He was booked for overstaying in India and moving in a notified area of the border district and sentenced recently under the Foreigners’ Act, 1921.
Ghanshyam Gor, additional public prosecutor, told this reporter, “I fought the police case against him, but I have sympathy for him, like everyone in the police and the administration, for his tragic life and his desperate efforts to meet his Iranian wife.”
He said the man was found to be truthful and co-operative in police investigation. His first statement made to police tallied with his revelations. Gor said Tahir’s two-year jail term would be over on April 16, 2010 and he would then be deported to Bangladesh as his Bangladeshi passport was found to be in his possession at the time of arrest. “We do not know how he would be able to return to Iran to meet his wife, Amal Wahdi Lamie.”
