Pak sisters step closer to freedom as Batala NGO pays ₹4-lakh fine
A Batala-based nongovernment organisation, Sarbat Da Bhala Humanity Club, on Thursday paid ₹4 lakh against the fine imposed on two Pakistani sisters, who have completed their 10-year jail term at Amritsar jail in a drug case. This is a step closer to release of the sisters, Fatima Bibi and Mumtaj, who, besides the jail term, had been fined ₹2 lakh each in 2006.
Fatima and her younger sister Mumtaj were arrested from the Samjhauta Express on May 8, 2006, at the Attari railway station for carrying drugs. The sisters completed their jail term in November last year.
Navtej Singh Gaggu of the NGO deposited the money in the central jail account and handed over the receipt to jail authorities in presence of advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba.
“Even as the sisters are eligible to be released, but certain formalities remained to be completed. The file of the case will be sent to Union ministry of home affairs and it will then go to the ministry of external affairs. After clearing the file, the foreign ministry will take up the matter with the Pakistan high commissioner,” Chabba said.
On the status of Fatima’s 10-year-old daughter Hena, who took birth in the jail, Chabba said, “By birth, she is an Indian citizen. Now, Pakistan government has to take a call. I don’t think she will have any problem in going to Pakistan with her mother and aunty whenever that happens.”