PHC rejects Indian citizen’s appeal seeking remission in sentence

Arrested in 2012, Ansari's jail term ends on December 15, 2018

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) rejected an appeal by an Indian national, incarcerated since 2012, seeking remission of his jail sentence.

A two-member bench of the high court sustained the three-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) sentence awarded by a military court during the hearing of the petition filed by Indian national Hamid Nehal Ansari through senior lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar and human rights activist Rukhshand Naaz.



In his petition, Ansari informed the court that he travelled to Pakistan via Jalalabad using a fake identity to meet a girl he had met online and was arrested from a hotel in Kohat in 2012.

However, the prosecution maintained that Ansari was arrested by a security agency in 2012, was found guilty of spying as authorities recovered maps and photographs of sensitive installations from his possession.

The prosecution further said Ansari had been provided complete security inside the jail.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court observed that the sentence could not be reduced as the law stated that persons involved in anti-state activities were not entitled to benefits granted under  Section 382-B of the CrPC – “Reduction of period of sentence of imprisonment. The length of any sentence of imprisonment imposed upon an accused person in respect of any offence shall be treated as reduced by any period during which he was detained in custody for such offence.”



PHC, however, directed authorities concerned to deport Ansari immediately after completion of his jail term on December 15, 2018. The representative of the interior ministry ensured the court that the Indian national will be deported within 24 hours under the exchange of prisoners' agreement between the two countries.