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Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking to transport mortal remains of Sufi saint from Bangladesh to India

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking transportation of the mortal remains of Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Muhammad Abdul Muqtadir Shah Masood Ahmad from Bangladesh to India.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud stated there is no constitutionally enforceable right to seek transportation of the Sufi saint’s mortal remains as he was a Pakistani citizen. Mentioning that Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Muhammad Abdul Muqtadir Shah Masood Ahmad was a Pakistani citizen, the bench also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra questioned the petitioner’s counsel how can he expect the Union of India to bring his burials to the country?

Appearing for petitioner Dargah Hazrat Mulla Syed, the counsel stated that the Sufi saint has no family in Pakistan, whereas, at the dargah in Uttar Pradesh, he was the Sajjada-nasheen, meaning spiritual head. The advocate informed the apex court that the Sufi saint was born in Prayagraj, then called Allahabad, and migrated to Pakistan. The counsel underlined that the Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Muhammad Abdul Muqtadir Shah Masood Ahmad got his Pakistani citizenship in 1992.

Considering the submission, the three-judge bench underlined that the Sufi saint was elected as the Sajjada Nasheen of the shrine viz. Dargah Hazrat Mulla Syed Mohammad Shah in 2008 in Prayagraj. The bench continued that later the saint executed his will in 2021 expressing a desire to be buried in the shrine and he died in Dhaka where he was buried. The bench expressed that there are difficulties in entertaining such a petition.

The bench further remarked that Hazrat Shah was a Pakistani citizen and has no constitutional right, the practical difficulties related to exhumation. The bench observed that as a matter of first principle, it would not be right for this court to direct the transportation of the mortal remains of a citizen of a foreign state in India.

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