CRPF jawan Munir Ahmed was dismissed after marrying his Pakistani cousin. He has now challenged his termination in the Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
Srinagar: Today, On May 29, A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan from Jammu and Kashmir, Munir Ahmed, has approached the Jammu & Kashmir High Court after being dismissed from service for marrying a Pakistani woman who is also his cousin.
Munir, who hails from J&K and joined the CRPF in 2017, has served in several states including Chhattisgarh, Bihar, J&K, and Madhya Pradesh.
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On May 2, 2024, he was removed from service due to his marriage with Menal Khan, a Pakistani national. He has now filed a legal petition through his lawyer Ankur Sharma, who is also associated with the BJP, in the Jammu wing of the High Court to contest this dismissal.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani has taken up the petition and issued notices to the Director General of CRPF, as well as the Commandants of CRPF’s 41 Battalion at Bangrasia (Bhopal, MP), and the 72 Battalion at Sodra (Sunderbani, Rajouri district, J&K).
The court has instructed them to submit their responses before the next hearing, which has been scheduled for June 30.
According to Munir, he had already informed the CRPF about his plan to marry his cousin Menal Khan, who is from Pakistan.
He stated,
“My marriage with Pakistani national Menal Khan, who is also my cousin, was decided by our elders during my childhood. In 2022, I informed the CRPF officials of my intent to marry a Pakistani national (Menal Khan) and sought permission for marriage.”
Later, he said the CRPF headquarters raised some queries through a letter dated 24/01/2023, and in response, he submitted all the required documents on 18/10/2023.
He followed this up with another formal request for a clearance or No Objection Certificate (NOC) on 05/11/2023.
On this matter, Munir revealed that he received a reply from the CRPF headquarters in New Delhi on 30/04/2024, which informed him that a No Objection Certificate was not necessary.
“On 30/04/2024, the office of the Director General CRPF, New Delhi, informed him that issuing a NOC is not required, as those intending to marry a person other than an Indian national only need to intimate the authorities.”
He said he had fulfilled all the obligations required by the rules and provided official intimation regarding his marriage to a foreign national.
“I had completed the necessary formalities by informing the government about my marriage to a foreign national, in accordance with the rules.”
His marriage (nikkah) with Menal took place online on 24/05/2024, through a video call. Munir added,
“After my nikkah, I submitted marriage pictures, nikkah papers and marriage certificate to the 72 Battalion headquarters in Bhopal, MP, where I was posted,”
Menal had entered India on a 15-day visit visa on 28 February, and the couple had applied for a Long-Term Visa (LTV) on 4 March. Munir mentioned that they had completed all necessary procedures, including a personal interview.
Munir explained,
“We applied for a Long-Term Visa (LTV) on 4 March and all necessary formalities including the interview were completed. The mandatory 21-day period after which it is deemed to have been granted has already passed,”
However, before they could receive the visa, the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April, which claimed the lives of 25 tourists and one local resident, changed the diplomatic landscape.
In response to the attack, the Indian government suspended all visas issued to Pakistani nationals and also scaled down its diplomatic ties with Pakistan.
As a result, Menal, who was still in India at that time, was among those Pakistani nationals facing deportation.
In an effort to stop this, Munir took legal action by filing a petition with the J&K High Court.
On 29 April, the court issued a stay on Menal’s deportation until 14 May, pending further hearing. Following the court order, Menal was brought back from the Attari border to Munir’s residence in J&K.
The matter is now in the hands of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which will hear responses from the CRPF authorities on June 30.
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