The petition, filed jointly by the Syrian national and his 33-year-old Indian partner from Gujarat “with whom he is in a long-term relationship”, has named the Secretary of the Home Department of Gujarat, the Officer in-charge of the JIC, Secretaries of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs, as well as the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Ahmedabad, as respondents in the case.
The petition seeks court’s directions to quash the FIR lodged against the two petitioners and to keep him under home arrest until the disposal of the petition before the HC and to grant a long-term visa to the Syrian national “in line with the Standard Operating Procedure” of the Ministry of Home Affairs of March 2019.
The petition also implores the HC to stay the proceedings in the FIR lodged on November 17, 2025 against the petitioners until the disposal of the petition before the HC and direction to “not deport” the Syrian national to his home country “owing to the well-founded fear of his life”.
The petition contends that the 29-year-old belongs to the Alawite community in Syria, “which has been the target of recent killings, and massacres.” He belongs to the LGBTQ+ community, which is “at an increased risk of violence, encompassing acts such as rape, sexual harassment, genital violence, the explicit threat of rape, and forced nudity” in that country.
The petition filed by the Syrian national states that he had arrived in India from the Syrian Arab Republic in September 2019 “seeking education and obtained a B tech degree from Marwadi University, Rajkot, on a government scholarship”. Thereafter, the Syrian national came in contact with his present Indian partner through a dating app and “fell in love and are in a long-term relationship”.
The petition states that the Syrian national’s visa had expired towards the end of 2023, following which, he secured admission in Mewar University Chittorgarh for Masters’ Degree Programme “but his visa was not extended”. In December 2023, the petitioner also applied for a refugee card from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The petition states that the Syrian national was granted a primary 30 days card by post and then a “refugee card from UNHCR after detailed interviews and inquiry” in January 2024.
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The petition states that the Syrian national “feared for his life on return to the Syrian Arab Republic, since he is gay, and a person living with HIV” as same sex sexual activity is prohibited in his home country, “which considers any homosexual intercourse illegal and contrary to nature and makes it punishable by imprisonment of up to three years” and “targets and criminalizes any public expression of nonconformity and difference as ‘corruption of public morality’.”
The petitioner has also stated that the laws in his home country do not “grant any protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity…”
Citing the refugee card granted by the UNHCR, the Syrian national has contended that the allegations made in the FIR lodged against him at Devbhoomi Dwarka district “constitute only a non-cognizable offence… that he stayed here despite his visa having expired” and it is “not the case of the police that the petitioner entered without valid documents. Thus, the offence under (sections of the) Foreigners Act 1946 and Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025 (invoked against the petitioner) are not made out ex facie.”
The petition also states that his Indian partner– a co-petitioner– has “only been arraigned as an accused because he was in a romantic relationship with (the Syrian national)… A mere romantic relationship between the two.. cannot give rise to an offence of abetment…”
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Partner out on bail
On November 14, 2025, officials of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Gujarat police arrested the two petitioners, who were then interrogated by the Gujarat police, and also by officers claiming to be from the Marine Intelligence, Navy Intelligence, State and National Intelligence Bureau, the petition contends. An FIR, under sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946, has been lodged at Devbhoomi Dwarka against the Syrian national while his Indian partner was booked for abetment of crime. While his partner has been released on bail, the Syrian national is yet to be granted bail.
On November 20, 2025, the SOG of Devbhoomi Dwarka made an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Khambhaliya, to add sections of the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, the petition states, which was granted by an order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on November 24, 2025. The Syrian national was transferred to the JIC on January 4.
