Ex-wife of absconding 1993 blasts accused move HC to question travel restrictions

MUMBAI: The former wife of an absconding accused in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts and daughter have moved the

Bombay high court

for permission to change their passport status to enable them to travel to Mecca-Medina.

Razia Siwani, 59, who holds an Indian passport but is residing in

Dubai

along with her daughter petitioned the HC against the State of Maharashtra, The Ministry of External Affairs and Regional Passport office in Mumbai for restrictions imposed on them. Their passports bear a remark validates travel only between UAE and India. “The validity of the passport should not be extended without prior reference to this mission CGI, Dubai,’’ says Razia’s passport issued in June 2017 at Dubai. The passport was valid for a year.

In response to the crimes committed by Abdul Gani Gazi, who she divorced in 2009 before a

Sharia

court, Sharjah, restrictions were imposed on her passport despite there being no criminal case against her. The restrictions from her and her daughter's passport were not removed even after she remarried another person in 2013, her petition says. With no response to her complaints from the Ministry of External Affairs, she seeks relief from the HC now. Gani, the petition says, had left her in 2000 and has had no contact since.

The endorsement on their passports amounts to curbing their fundamental rights as Indian citizens and has hampered a holy visit to

Mecca

.

The HC is scheduled to hear her plea on Thursday.