Justice K Murali Shankar in his order said the court has no hesitation to hold that permitting the prosecution to continue would be an “abuse of process of court”.

Madurai: A Canadian national stuck in India for 16 years finally got some reprieve after the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court quashed a chargesheet in which he was accused of using a forged exit permit to board a Srilankan Airlines Flight in 2006.

Zakaria Farah filed a petition in the High Court seeking to quash the chargesheet filed against him by the Airport police station, Tiruchi, pending before the Judicial Magistrate VI in Tiruchi.

Based on a complaint lodged by the Inspector of Police, Immigration Department, Trichy, Tamil Nadu police registered a case against Farah on October 3, 2007, under Sections 467, 468, 471 IPC and Section 3(ii)(c) r/w 14 of Foreigners Act and 12(1-A) of Passport Act.

On that day, at about 12.15 pm, immigration Officials, according to the prosecution, checked Farah’s passport and other documents and came to know that the exit permit, dated 24.08.2006 issued by the Commissioner of Police and Foreigners Registration Officer, Hyderabad, was allegedly forged and that Farah had attempted to use it to board Srilankan Airlines Flight.

Farah was arrested on the same day and his travel documents including his Canadian passport were seized. The police, however, did not file the chargesheet for the next 16 years, making him unable to visit his home country.

Coming down heavily on the prosecution and police, Justice K Murali Shankar in his order said the court has no hesitation to hold that permitting the prosecution to continue would be an “abuse of process of court”.

The court also observed that the prosecution “has miserably failed to produce any prima facie material to show that the document in question is a forged document”. “In the absence of any prima facie materials for forgery, the question of invoking Sections 467, 468 and 471 does not arise at all,” read the court order dated November 29, 2024, a copy of which was accessed by ETV Bharat.

The prosecution has also not produced any materials to attract the offences under the Foreigners Act and Passports Act, the court observed.

During the hearing, Advocate B Sargunam, representing Farah, highlighted discrepancies in the police’s FIR and the charge sheet they filed 16 years later. Justice Shankar noted that despite the case being registered in 2007, the final report had not been filed, leaving the case pending before the Trichy Judicial Magistrate for 16 years.

The Advocate said Farah was unable to visit his home country for the past 16 years due to pendency of the FIR which has severely affected his personal and professional life.

“16 years delay in filing a final report is unprecedented and raises serious questions about the investigation’s integrity. The petitioner was erroneously arrested based on the fake residential permit. The delay of 16 years has prejudiced to the petitioner’s right to a fair trial due to the deterioration of evidence and potential loss of witnesses,” he said.

In its order, the court said that though FIR was registered on 03.10.2007, the charge sheet was filed on 19.04.2023, after the lapse of nearly 16 years. “The prosecution has not offered any acceptable reason or explanation for the said inordinate delay,” the court observed.

“This court concludes that the impugned charge sheet cannot be legally sustained and the same is liable to be quashed,” read the court order.