New Delhi, April 5 (UNI) The Supreme Court Friday rejected a petition seeking for exhumation and transportation of Pakistani citizen and Sufi leader Hazrat Shah Muhammad Abdul Muqtadir Shah Masood Ahmad’s mortal remains from the Bangladesh capital to a dargah in Uttar Pradesh, saying there is no legal remedy.
Hearing the petition seeking transportation of the mortal remains of the Sufi leader who died in Dhaka in 2022, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the deceased is a Pakistani citizen, so how could one expect the Union of India to bring his burials to India?
The CJI while pronouncing his decision said that jurisdiction under Article 32 has been evoked by the petitioner seeking a writ of mandamus. The petitioner submits that Hazrat was born in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He migrated to Pakistan and was conferred Pakistani citizenship in 1992.
He also said that Ahmad was elected as the Sajjada-nasheen of the shrine Dargah Hazrat Mulla Syed Mohammad Shah in 2008 in Prayagraj. He executed his will in 2021 expressing a desire to be buried in the shrine. He died in Dhaka where he was buried in 2022. “There are difficulties in entertaining such a petition.”
The Counsel appearing for the petitioner said, “Today there he has no family in Pakistan, whereas at the Dargah here (in UP), he was the Sajjada-nasheen.
The CJI said, “Hazrat Shah was a Pakistani citizen and has no constitutional right….then there are practical difficulties related to exhumation. As a matter of first principle, it would not be right for this court to direct the transportation of the mortal remains of a citizen of a foreign state to India.
“There is no legal right,” said the CJI and dismissed the petition.
