Endless ordeal of Abdul Basheer | ‘No land’s man’ now languishes in Mangaluru rehab

Harsha Raj Gatty
January 24, 2019

No identity, scant memory, mumbling few Urdu, Hindi and Arabic words; while some suspect Abdul Basheer to be a Pakistani, others give him a benefit of doubt that he maybe a Saudi National. But time and again having failed to produce any reliable documentation of identity among other things has got this 45-year on wrong side of the law.

"No one knows how he landed there (Kerala), but what he told us was that he was visiting Ajmer and his passport taken away, which left him stranded in India. But so far neither the Kerala authorities have been able to trace his passport or the origin of his nationality," Joseph Crasta, founder of Snehalaya Psycho Social Rehabilitation Centre said.

Wandering in streets of Kannur has already done enough for Abdul Basheer, after he was picked up by the Kannur police acting 'suspicious'. Further, when Basheer duly told the authorities of his recollection of his mother hailing from Burma and his father was Sayyed Hussain Makkanakkas, a Pakistani national, things didn’t seem to work in his favour. The Kasargod police formally charged him under Foreigners Act and arrested him on September 2012.

Subsequently, Basheer was produced before Kasargod CJM court, and he was duly awarded two years imprisonment at Kannur Jail. According to Kerala police, the jail authorities duly noticed that Basheer was not mentally stable therefore they admitted him for examination in mental-health care unit in Calicut. Although Abdul was slated to be released in November in 2015, he had to undergo another month of prison term since he was unable to pay the fine. Finally he was due to be released on December 2015.

But that was not the end to Basheer’s ordeal. He has neither been identified as an Indian nor has other nationality nor he been granted any refugee status. The authorities did not have a protocol, when the court ordered them to deport Basheer to his respective nation and he continued to be pushed around from one authority to another.

Although Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) Ernakulam contacted Saudi Embassy officials to enquire the residence status of Basheer, the foreign authorities told them that they don’t have his records.

Initially, Basheer was transferred to ‘open jail’ in Cheemeni, later under the request from Kerala government, the Kasaragod District officials requested Snehalaya Psycho-Social Rehabilitation Centre at Mangaluru to admit him.

 “Based on a number provided by him, we called a woman in Saudi, who claimed to be his sister and quite often asked about his whereabouts, but later the calls went unanswered and there are no efforts by anyone to provide him any relief,” says Joseph Crasta, founder, Snehalaya Charitable Trust.

According to Crasta, Basheer is schizophrenic but is not a violent case. “His statements about his family, background is inconsistent, although he can speak fluent Hindi and Arabic. Right now, he is the only 'foreigner' among the 167 inmates whom we have lodged in the facility. Earlier we had two Nepali's at our unit, we were able to trace their family, we now hope to reunite Basheer to his family as well,” Crasta adds.

Comments

Naaz
 - 
Thursday, 31 Jan 2019

if anyone can pass that Saudi Number, we can track that lady and inform about it. Nizam Uppala 00966551335641 Basheer Uppala 00966554226682

kumar
 - 
Thursday, 24 Jan 2019

I request the authorities to be kind on this innocent person and consider citizenship to hi m so that he can live peacefully.  I express my grattitudes to the charitable organisation for helping him.   there are many muslim organisations and rich people in Mangalore.  I think its their duty too to help him.  

Nishant Kudla
 - 
Thursday, 24 Jan 2019

He is eligible for Indian citizenship as he has spent several years in the country.

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News Network
May 13,2020

Bengaluru, May 12: About 101 labourers bound for Rajasthan from Bengaluru in a goods truck were detained near a border Checkpost at Hirebagewadi village in Belagavi taluk on the Pune-Bengaluru national highway and have been sent into institutional quarantine on Tuesday.

Police said that the Labourers comprising of men, women and children had been travelling towards Rajasthan in a goods truck without permission from Karnataka and even from their home State Rajasthan.

In the morning hours, police and other department personnel manning the check post near...check post near Hirebagewadi detained them.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 10: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), which met with officials of the Social Welfare Department Thursday, has urged the state government to increase the reservation provided to the ST community.

The Commission's suggestion comes even as a committee headed by Justice Nagamohan Das is currently studying a demand for increase of reservation for the community from the existing 3% to 7.5%.

Addressing mediapersons on Thursday, Commission Chairperson Nand Kumar Sai, said the Commission had discussed the issue with the Social Welfare Department, Karnataka, asking officials to expedite the process.

In response to this suggestion, Social Welfare Department Principal Secretary G Kumar Naik said the government would take a call based on the Nagamohan Das Committee's report.

A meeting was held between members of the National ST Commission and the Social Welfare Department Thursday with regard to various projects taken up by the department.

In June last year, the then Kumaraswamy-led coalition government constituted the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee, after protests from members of the Valmiki community for an increase in reservation to 7.5%. At present, Karnataka provides 15% reservation for SCs, 3% for STs and 32% for other backward classes (OBC).

The national commission also urged the state government to ensure permanent faculty in all the 824 residential institutions run by the department. At present, as much as 50% of the faculty in these institutions have been hired on a contractual basis. "We have assured that the recruitment will be done in a short time," Naik told mediapersons.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Panaji, Feb 6: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday told the Legislative Assembly that neighbouring Karnataka has diverted the Mahadayi river water, due to which its flow in the state has taken a hit.

He was speaking during a debate on the motion of thanks to Governor Satya Pal Malik for his address.

Goa and Karnataka are locked in a dispute over sharing of the Mahadayi river water. Goa is strongly opposing the Kalasa Banduri project proposed to be built by Karnataka on the river, which is aimed at providing drinking water to three north Karnataka districts by diverting the Mahadayi water into the Malaprabha river.

Speaking in the House, Sawant said that the flow of Mahadayi river has reduced due to the diversion of water by Karnataka.

"I am admitting that they (Karnataka) have diverted the water. We have brought it to the notice of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change," he said.

The Goa government has explained to the Centre that the water which flows into the state is "not wasted".

"We have told them that the perennial flow of water is necessary for Goa's wildlife," he said.

Sawant said that his government was serious on the issue of Mahadayi.

"Mahadayi is more than a mother to me. We have not compromised anywhere on the issue. I have been associated with the Mahadayi agitation since 2000," the chief minister said.

He said the issue would be fought before the Supreme Court, where special leave petition has been filed by the state.

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