2 days ago
Last Updated:January 01, 2025, 09:28 IST
This is not the first time that a cross-border love story has been reported. Among the ones that made headlines were stories of Seema Haider and Iqra Jeewani.
Badal Babu had previously attempted to cross the India-Pakistan border twice but failed. (News18 Hindi)
A 30-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district has been arrested in Pakistan for illegally crossing the border. While authorities in the neighbouring country are investigating the motive of his illegal entry, the man says that he had crossed the border to meet a woman he fell in love with after befriending her on Facebook.
This is not the first time that a cross-border love story has been reported. Among the ones that made headlines were stories of Seema Haider and Iqra Jeewani, both Pakistani nationals who entered India illegally for love.
While Seema Haider met her lover, Sachin Meena, while playing PUBG, Iqra Jeewani fell in love while playing board game ‘Ludo’ online.
Reports in 2023 had stated that Jeewani was a “shy teenage", who sold her jewellery and borrowed money from friends to buy air tickets to Dubai and onwards to Kathmandu from where she crossed into India.
India and Pakistan share a strained relationship. The neighbours have fought three wars since 1947, when India was partitioned on Independence and Pakistan created. People have reported that the bitter history often makes it hard for people to get visas to travel to see each other.
The Aligarh man, arrested by Pakistan’s Punjab Police in Mandi Bahauddin city, has been identified as Nagla Khatkari village resident Badal Babu.
A report in India Today quoted Pakistani authorities as saying that Babu confessed during interrogation that he had developed a romantic relationship with the woman on social media and, desperate to meet her in person, entered the country without a valid visa or travel documents.
The report stated that Babu was arrested on December 27 after he failed to produce any travel documentation. He was booked under Sections 13 and 14 of Pakistan’s Foreigners Act, 1946.
Babu was later presented in court, where he was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. He is scheduled to appear again on January 10, 2025.
Babu’s History Makes Pakistan Suspicious
Even as the Aligarh man has confessed to his love story, authorities in Pakistan are investigating if there could be other motive for his illegal entry as he had previously attempted to cross the India-Pakistan border twice but failed.
The publication stated that Babu, on his third attempt, successfully crossed into Pakistan and reached Mandi Bahauddin, where he reportedly met the woman he had been communicating with online.
Aligarh Man’s Family Unaware Of His Plans
Badal Babu’s family got to know about his arrest in Pakistan when the news went viral on social media. News18 Hindi quoted his father, Kripal Singh, as saying that Babu had come home 20 days before Diwali. The last he spoke to his son was on November 30 via a video call. Babu had then told his family that the work for which he was travelling was done. The family did not speak to him post that. They are now pleading the government to bring Babu back.
Aligarh SSP Sanjeev Suman told News18 Hindi that no information has been received from Pakistan or the Indian Embassy in this regard yet. The police is still gathering information by talking to the family members.
Location :Aligarh, India
First Published:January 01, 2025, 09:28 IST
News india Aligarh Man Crosses Pakistan Border Illegally To Meet Lover He Met On Facebook
