In May 1999, Mohammed Faruk was a young teenage migrant from Bangladesh. With no family or money, he had crossed the border into New Delhi, India looking for work. By August of that year, young Faruk had been arrested for murder and was sent to Tiha prison in New Delhi. Indian law states that a juvenile under the age of eighteen can serve no sentence longer than three years. He was tried by a Sessions Court at Delhi and convicted despite being a juvenile. Faruk was detained for nearly ten years after being sentenced to life in prison- the punishment prescribed to adults. A stranger in a foreign land, Faruk had neither friends nor family to help him. He did not have any document to prove his age.
As a poor migrant with no money and no family, Faruk had no means by which to attain a lawyer. It was only when Ajay Verma, IBJ’s India Fellow, came across Faruk’s case did he realize that Faruk had been illegally detained for nearly a decade. With the help of Ajay, Faruk filed a petition for his release before the Delhi High Court. The Court then ordered that Faruk undergo an ossification test in order to determine his current age so that his age at the time of the alleged incident could be calculated. The report of a medical board revealed Faruk’s current age to be between twenty-five and twenty-eight years old. This indicated that Faruk had indeed been under the age of seventeen at the time of his arrest. The Delhi High Court has thus ordered Faruk’s release.
Despite having order in his favor, Faruk was not set free, but rather he was sent to an illegal migrants’ detention center. On the basis of a news report submitted by Ajay Verma before the Delhi High Court, the court took cognizance and summoned the state authorities and requested the production of Faruk before the Court. The state authorities undertook to arrange his return to Bangladesh within a week with proper documentation. Now Faruk has reached his home and his parents, who thought him to be dead, are overjoyed to be reunited with him. Faruk’s story is an all too common one in India. Fortunately, the work of Ajay exemplifies what can be achieved when basic legal aid is provided to those who need it.