‘Concealing' marriage with Pak cousin: HC issues notice to MHA, CRPF, seeks response by June 30
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh high court has issued notices to Union home secretary and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) asking them to respond to the sacking of a jawan before next hearing on June 30.
The court was hearing a plea filed by CRPF jawan Munir Ahmed challenging his dismissal from service, his counsel, advocate Ankur Sharma told HT.
Acting on the petition, justice Javed Iqbal Wani has issued notices to Union home secretary and CRPF and has asked to reply before the next hearing—June 30.
Ahmed was dismissed from service after it was found that he married his cousin sister Menal Khan, a Pakistani national who had migrated from Jammu's Bhalwal tehsil during partition in 1947.
In his writ petition, Ahmed claimed that since he was sacked from service in 'An arbitrary, capricious, and whimsical manner' through an impugned termination order dated May 2, 2025, he requested the HC to 'set it aside'.
Ahmed in his petition said, 'From 2022, he had duly intimated the authorities concerned in the CRPF about his marriage and duly followed the procedure and rule.' He also produced communications and representations presented to the higher authorities, the petition mentioned.
Munir Ahmed reiterated that he first filed an application seeking permission for his marriage in 2022. However, in January 2023, it was reverted, along with some objections. In a letter by inspector general of police, CRPF Jammu informed the special director general of police, J&K about Ahmed's intimation in November 2023
A letter by inspector general of police, CRPF Jammu, informed the J&K special director general of police about Ahmed's intimation in November 2023.
On April 30, 2024, the then Director General of the CRPF certified that he 'intimated the department well within the rules' and said that he found 'no mention of not issuing a no-objection certificate under the rules', according to the petition.
Munir Ahmed was transferred from the 72nd Battalion in Jammu to the 41st Battalion in Bhopal in March 2025. According to the plea, the diary for the new posting also recorded and clarified that his wife is of Pakistani origin.
Moreover, to prove his 'impeccable integrity', Ahmed relied upon a series of letters of recommendation from local BJP MPs. The MPs wrote to the Union minister of state for home affairs and the Union minister for external affairs, seeking a visa for his wife.
In the latest letter dated February 6,by Gulam Ali Khatana, a nominated Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP, requested external affairs minister S Jaishankar to expedite the granting of a long-term visa to Munir's wife.
In a similar request in February 2024, Jugal Kishore Sharma, BJP MP from Jammu-Reasi, requested the then minister of state for home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra to clear Menal Ahmed visa application pending before the MHA.
Munir Ahmed was dismissed after India decided to repatriate Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that left 26 tourists dead and scores injured.
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