SSB suspend inspector, head constable for failing to check Seema Haider bus along India-Nepal border

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), responsible for guarding the India-Nepal border, has suspended an inspector and a head constable for alleged lapses in duty following an investigation into the entry of Pakistani resident Seema Haider and her four children into India.

Inspector Sujit Kumar Verma and Head Constable Chandra Kamal Kalita of the 43rd Battalion of the SSB were responsible for checking the passenger vehicle on May 13 in the border district of Siddharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh as it crossed over to India from the neighbouring country. Seema Ghulam Haider, along with her four children, was on this bus.

An SSB order, issued on August 2, blames the head constable at the Khunwa checkpost for the incident.

“Head Constable Chandra Kamal Kalita, 43 Battalion SSB, Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharth Nagar, has deposed of having checked 35 passengers in the bus. He revealed that the passenger seat no 28, is found blank/vacant, the gender and age of seat no, 37, 38, 39 have mentioned as 14, 13 and 8 years, without mentioning their names, which reveals another lie and the subterfuge in claiming checking of all the 35 passengers as per protocol. Hence, he has failed to de-bus the passengers… and failed in his prime duty of safeguarding the security of borders and preventing unauthorised entry into the territory of India,” the order says.

A full inquiry procedure will be initiated against the suspended SSB inspector and the head constable, sources told the news agency PTI. The full enquiry will cover aspects that were not addressed in the preliminary investigation, along with the roles of other personnel present during the incident.

The SSB had initiated a basic probe into the illegal immigration of Seema Haider from Pakistan to India after reports of her arrest emerged, officials from the agency said. The SSB has been directed by central agencies to ascertain how Haider was able to travel from Karachi to Noida via Nepal while avoiding detection.

‘Humanly impossible’ to check every person crossing India-Nepal border: SSB sources

The SSB, a paramilitary force under the Union Home Ministry, is entrusted with securing the 1,751-km-long India-Nepal international border on the eastern flank of the country. The open border makes it ‘humanly impossible’ to verify every individual’s credentials crossing over from Nepal to India, sources from the agency told news outlets.

While nationals from a third country are not permitted to cross the border without a valid visa and travel documents, it becomes very difficult to ascertain foreign nationals from neighbouring countries, especially considering the physical and mannerist similarities between the people from the subcontinent.

Seema Haider expresses wish to stay with Sachin in India

Seema Haider, a 30-year-old from Pakistan’s Sindh province, claimed that she entered India to be with her 22-year-old Indian partner Sachin Meena in Greater Noida’s Rabupura area. While she was detained for illegally entering India on July 4 without a visa via Nepal, Meena was arrested for harbouring illegal immigrants.

Both were released on bail on July 7 and have been residing together with Haider’s children in Rabupura.

Haider has expressed her desire to remain in India and live with Sachin, also stating her conversion to Hinduism. The couple initially connected in 2019 through the online game PUBG.