New Delhi,October 06: The centre told the Delhi High Court Tuesday that Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Ibrahim Parker cannot be issued a fresh passport as she might “misuse” it.
In an affidavit filed on behalf of the central government, lawyer Sanjiv Kumar Dubey said Haseena might misuse the passport for helping her brother’s criminal activities.
“She may travel abroad and misuse her passport for aiding and abetting criminal activities of her brother and his associates and, therefore, keeping in mind the security of India and public interest at large, the passport has not been issued,” the affidavit maintained.
The government’s response came on a petition filed by Haseena seeking the court’s direction to the government to issue her a passport.
According to Haseena’s petition, filed on April 20, 2007, she contended that it was her fundamental right to acquire a passport and travel abroad as a free, law abiding citizen.
She said she had registered a First Information Report (FIR) claiming her passport had been stolen and applied for a fresh passport in Mumbai in 2005.
However, her application was rejected by the Mumbai Regional Passport Office on Dec 5, 2006, on the ground that she might not return to India because she was Dawood Ibrahim’s sister.
Haseena then applied at the central passport office in Delhi but her application was rejected on similar grounds.
—————IANS