SC Rejects Plea for Repatriation Sufi Saint’s Remains from Bangladesh to India

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

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stated that there is no constitutionally enforceable right to seek transportation of the Sufi saint’s mortal remains since he was a Pakistani citizen.

“He is a Pakistani citizen, how can you expect the Union of India to bring his burials in India?” the bench remarked.

The counsel representing petitioner Dargah Hazrat Mulla Syed contended that the saint had no family in Pakistan. Moreover, he held the position of Sajjada-nasheen (spiritual head) at the dargah in Uttar Pradesh.

The lawyer informed the apex court that the saint was born in Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, and later migrated to Pakistan. He acquired Pakistani citizenship in 1992.

Lawyer for the petitioner further informed that Shah was elected as the Sajjada Nasheen of the shrine viz. Dargah Hazrat Mulla Syed Mohammad Shah in 2008 in Prayagraj. He executed his will in 2021 expressing a desire to be buried in the shrine. He died in Dhaka where he was buried.

“Hazrat Shah was a Pakistani citizen and has no constitutional right… the practical difficulties related to exhumation. 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,” the bench stated.