Petitioner An Indian Citizen, Needs Legal Representation: J&K High Court Grants Consular Access To Kashmiri Engineer Detained In Saudi Arabia

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has admitted a writ petition filed by the wife of a detainee and directed the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to file an affidavit regarding the current status of the petitioner who has been detained there under uncertain circumstances. A bench of Justice Rahul Bharti was hearing a writ petition filed by the petitioner who was working as an Engineer and was detained in Saudi Arabia back in 2020. The wife and father of the detainee had approached the court seeking consular access to the detainee. The counsel for petitioners submitted that the status of the detention and the grounds of such detention are not known to them in order to avail an effective remedy. It was also submitted that the counsellor access should be provided to the petitioner so that a proper representation is given to him as per the mandate of the Vienna Convention. The counsel for the respondent said they would file an objection, to which the court responded, "You must file the compliance report, the petitioner is an Indian citizen who needs legal representation." The court directed the respondent to file the status report on affidavit by or before 4 March. BACKGROUND As per the petition, the petitioner in the year 2013, migrated to Saudi Arabia for employment purposes and he was working as an Engineer in Saudi Arabia. He was detained/ arrested in the year 2020 in Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, the family of the petitioner was never officially told about the charges faced by the petitioner and neither any information regarding any legal proceedings including legal representation of the petitioner was shared with the petitioner. APPEARANCE: Advocate Shaheryar , Advocate Wani Umer, Advocate Abdul Manan , Adv F.A.Lone & Adv Rahil Habib) For Petitioners Advocate Tahir Majid Shamsi for Respondents Case-Title: Abdul Rafi Baba & Anr vs Union of India, 2025Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL) 47

Petitioner An Indian Citizen, Needs Legal Representation: J&K High Court Grants Consular Access To Kashmiri Engineer Detained In Saudi Arabia

Aleem Syeed

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