Latest news with #PakistaniCatholic
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
SC junks Pakistani Christian's plea for citizenship ignoring CAA cut-off
Supreme Court NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the plea of a Goa-born Pakistani Catholic man, who sought a direction to the Centre to allow him citizenship under Citizenship Amendment Act , 2019 citing religious persecution in Pakistan even though he arrived in India six years after the Jan 2014 cutoff date. Jude Mendes, who was born in Goa to a Pakistani national in 1987 but completed his studies at Karachi in Pakistan, arrived in India in 2016 on a long-term visa which has been extended till June this year and even got his Aadhaar card made in 2020. He married an Indian woman in February this year. Three days after the Pahalgam terror attack on tourists by Pak-backed terrorists, India on April 25 cancelled all kinds of visas given to Pakistani nationals. However, long term visas, which Mendes has, have not been revoked. Mendes' visa expires on June 20. Advocate Raghav Awasthi told a partial working day bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan that "the Petitioner is born in India and is a Roman Catholic which being a minority community is heavily persecuted in Pakistan. He cannot travel to Pakistan to renew his passport which is expiring on 20.06.2025 due to the threat to his life and that therefore, he ought to be granted extension of his long-term visa. " The petitioner said in the event of his deportation to Pakistan, the petitioner who was born in India and now lawfully married to an Indian citizen, would face imminent threat to his life because of extreme religious persecution in Pakistan. At present he works as a chef in Goa. But the bench said that he would have to move the Bombay HC for the relief he is seeking. The petitioner's lawyer withdrew the plea to move the HC. Under CAA, India had resolved to grant citizenship to those individuals from minority communities who have been persecuted in neighbouring countries on the ground of religion. However, the law stipulated that they should have entered India prior to Jan 1, 2014.
NDTV
2 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Goa-Born Christian Pak Man Seeks Citizenship Under CAA, Top Court Says...
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain an appeal from a Goa-born Pakistani Catholic man, who sought a direction to the Centre to grant him citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA, citing religious persecution in Pakistan. The court has asked him to approach the Bombay High Court for relief. Jude Mendes -- a chef at a restaurant in Goa -- had come to India six years after the CAA's cut-off date of January 2014. The 38-year-old was born in Goa to a Pakistani national in 1987 but migrated soon after and completed his studies in Karachi, Pakistan. He came to India in 2016 on a long-term visa, which has been extended till June 20. In 2020, he got his Aadhaar and married an Indian woman in February. India had cancelled all visas given to Pakistani nationals on April 25, three days after the Pahalgam terror attack on tourists by Pakistan-backed terrorists. But the long-term visa held by Mendes has not been cancelled. Advocate Raghav Awasthi told a partial working day bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan that "the petitioner is born in India and is a Roman Catholic, who is highly persecuted in Pakistan due to being a minority community". Mr Mendes, he said, cannot go to Pakistan to renew his passport, which is expiring on June 20, as there is a threat to his life. So he should be granted extension of his long-term visa, the advocate contended. The petitioner has said that his Indian birth and marriage to an Indian citizen may endanger his life due to extreme religious persecution in Pakistan. The bench, however, said he would have to approach the Bombay High Court for relief. Under the CAA, India has pledged to grant citizenship to people of minority communities who have been persecuted on basis of religion in neighbouring countries. The law, however, provides that they should have entered India before January 1, 2014.
