Finally accepted as an Indian,Wasil Khan walks a free man

The 43-year-old man from Bihar was arrested for “being a Pakistani national”. “I pleaded to the police,jail authorities and courts trying to convince them that I was an Indian national. No one listened to me,” he said,adding that now he wants to be with his sister Mohazra Khatoom and brother-in-law Shaahid Raza Khan and work as an agriculturalist in his home.

“It is very difficult to forget the trauma. But I will move on. I will have to forget all this,” he said. Khatoom and Raza had recognized Khan from a report published in The Indian Express. They said he went missing and for a decade had no clue of his whereabouts.

“There will be major celebrations in our village. I will also explore if we can file a case for compensation as the Punjab Police and Government Railway Police (GRP) framed him in false cases,” said Khatoom.

Suddenly there was an urgency in Khan and he said,“Let us go home.” Wearing a stripped new shirt that his sister had brought the three stared walking. They will take the evening train home. “He is happy but there is sadness in his eyes. It will take time for him to reconcile with the fact that he is finally going to be with his family though our two brothers have died in his absence,” said Khatoom. She wants him to get married and have his own family.

Following reports published in the newspaper and inquiries conducted by the Deputy Commissioner K S Pannu,Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Administrative Judge,Justice Mehtab Singh Gill ordered his release on September 26. The probe concluded that Wasil Khan was wrongly confined with the Pakistani prisoners and was set to be sent to Pakistan though he is an Indian national,hailing from Nekerdehi village in East Champaran (formerly Motihari) district of Bihar who had been missing for the last many years. He was in mentally unstable condition when first arrested by Gurdaspur police in 2000 and then by GRP in 2002 and sent to jail as Pakistani national,moving without valid documents for terrorist activities. Wasil’s family members had produced proof regarding his identity and was finally acknowledged as an Indian.

The Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) had also taken suo motu cognizance of the newspaper reports about human right violation.