SRINAGAR: Justice Javed Iqbal Wani of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the CRPF, and other respondents after a former CRPF constable, Munir Ahmed, challenged his dismissal from service for marrying a Pakistani national, according to media reports.
The writ petition, filed at the Jammu wing of the High Court through Advocate Ankur Sharma, alleges that Ahmed was arbitrarily removed from service despite having followed due procedure in notifying his superiors about the marriage, media reports said.
Ahmed, who was posted with the CRPF’s 72nd Battalion in Jammu, was dismissed after marrying his cousin, a Pakistani national whose family migrated from Jammu’s Bhalwal tehsil during the Partition in 1947. He was later transferred to the CRPF’s 41st Battalion in Bhopal in March 2025. His service termination order was issued on 2 May 2025.
In his petition, Ahmed stated that he had been informing authorities since 2022 about his intent to marry a Pakistani national and had submitted all required representations and communications. He contended that the dismissal was “arbitrary, capricious, and whimsical”, and urged the court to set it aside.
A 2024 communication by the then Director General of the CRPF is cited in the petition, stating that Ahmed had informed the department “well within the rules” and that there was “no mention of not issuing a no-objection certificate”, according to media reports.
Ahmed’s plea includes copies of letters from BJP leaders endorsing his wife’s visa application. In February 2025, Rajya Sabha MP Gulam Ali Khatana reportedly wrote to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, urging expedited processing of a long-term visa for Meenal Khan. Similarly, in February 2024, Jammu-Reasi MP Jugal Kishore Sharma requested clearance of the pending visa application from the Ministry of Home Affairs, media reports stated.
The petition also points out that his new posting diary from Bhopal acknowledged his wife’s Pakistani origin without raising any objections at the time. Ahmed argued that these records support his claim of transparency and procedural compliance.
The High Court has asked the MHA and the CRPF to file their responses before the next hearing on June 30, 2025. The case highlights the legal and bureaucratic complexities involved in cross-border marriages, especially for personnel in Indian security forces.
