Pakistani citizen Seema Haider files mercy petition with President Droupadi Murmu

Noida: Pakistani citizen Seema Haider, who entered into India in May without a visa, has filed a mercy petition with President Droupadi Murmu requesting that she, along with her four children, be allowed to stay at her "matrimonial home" in Greater Noida. Haider has also urged for an oral hearing from the president in her case. The petition, filed on her behalf by Supreme Court advocate A P Singh, was received at the President's secretariat on Friday.

In the petition, Haider (30) states that she is in love with Sachin Meena (22) who lives in Greater Noida and she came to India with her four children to live with him. The Pakistani citizen claims she has converted to Hinduism and got married to Meena as per Hindu rites and rituals at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. "...Hon'ble madam, petitioner has found peace, love and happiness and a sense of purpose with Sachin Meena as a beloved husband, his father as father-in-law and his mother as mother-in-law that the petitioner never had before.

Her excellency, (the) petitioner begs you to believe the petitioner and show compassion to a lady, not highly educated," Haider stated. "If you show mercy, the petitioner will spend the rest of her life with her husband, four minor children and matrimonial relative will be grateful that you gave chance to make something of myself and to be a source of strength and support matrimonial petitioner can. The petitioner will finally be able to live a life with dignity in India...," she stated in the petition. Meanwhile, a purported video surfaced Saturday, showing Haider apparently ill and taking glucose drips, an intravenous solution usually given to individuals suffering from dehydration or low blood sugar levels.

Haider, who hails from Sindh province in Pakistan, says she got in touch with Meena while playing online game PUBG in 2019-20 and eventually the two talked over Whatsapp and Instagram before falling in love with each other. She entered into India illegally along with her four children in a bus via Pakistan on May 13. She says she had come to live with Meena, who stays in Rabupura area of Greater Noida. On July 4, Haider was arrested by local police for entering India illegally and Meena was held for sheltering illegal immigrants. However, they both were granted bail by a local court on July 7 and have been living together along with her four children in a house in Rabupura.

The petition comes even as the Noida police are investigating a case of her illegal stay in India while the Anti Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police earlier this week questioned the couple for two days. Haider has said she does not wish to go back to Pakistan and wants to live with Meena. She also claimed to have turned a Hindu. Pakistan's intelligence agencies have informed the country's government that "love" is the "only" factor that led the mother of four to sneak into India to live with a Hindu man whom she befriended through an online game platform, according to a Pakistani media report.