'Pak citizen': FIR against UP woman for hiding nationality, securing govt job; dismissed from service

NEW DELHI: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur have registered an FIR against a woman, allegedly a Pakistani national, for hiding her citizenship and securing a job in the state’s Basic Education Department, a police official said on Thursday.Rampur Additional Superintendent of Police Anurag Singh said the department's internal inquiry revealed that the woman, identified as Mahira Akhtar alias Farzana, had secured employment using forged documents. “An FIR has been registered under Sections 318(4), 336, 338 and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating and forgery. It is alleged that despite being a Pakistani national, she obtained a job in the education department by using a fake residence certificate,” Singh told news agency PTI.He added that the accused had been working as a teacher at a primary school in Kumhariya village.According to police, Akhtar married a Pakistani national in 1979 and subsequently acquired Pakistani citizenship.After her divorce, she allegedly returned to India on a Pakistani passport and married a local man around 1985. Around the same period, she is accused of joining the Basic Education Department while projecting herself as an Indian citizen.She has since been suspended and dismissed from service. The FIR was registered on the basis of the department’s report.Police said an investigation is underway and evidence is being collected. No arrests have been made so far.