The sessions court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Faraz Malik, son of NCP leader Nawab Malik, and his wife Laura Hemelin alias Ayesha Malik in a fake marriage certificate case.
The court also ordered the couple to be released on a personal bond of ₹15,000 and sureties in the same amount, in case of their arrest. By way of condition, they are required to visit Kurla police station, where a case was recently registered against them, every Friday for two months.
The police alleged that in order to convert Hemelin’s tourist visa into an Entry-X1 one (a special visa granted to individuals of Indian origin or to foreigners married to Indian nationals), the couple submitted a marriage certificate which was forged.
On Saturday, sessions judge M G Deshpande granted the couple interim protection, asking the police not to arrest them.
In their bail plea, the duo said that in 2018, due to some social, personal and educational necessities of Hemelin and her children, she required a marriage certificate. The couple asked one of Malik’s employees about this, and he introduced them to one Vijay who processed their documents, it said.
Recently, when the news about the fake certificate was reported, the Maliks inquired about Vijay, and found out that he had been arrested by the crime branch for selling fabricated marriage, birth, death and other certificates, which are officially issued by BMC, to over 300 people in the city. The couple relied on the WhatsApp chat between Vijay and Malik’s employee to prove the link, the petition said.
Hemelin claimed that she was a French national, and the validity of her tourist visa was from September 10, 2018, to September 9, 2019. As the visa was nearing expiry, she had approached the French embassy for renewal. When she found out that she could get an Entry-XI visa by virtue of being married to an Indian, she applied for it, the plea said.
As per the bail plea, the special branch 2 of Mumbai police told the couple that since the applicant (Faraz) had not formally dissolved his previous marriage, and Hemelin became pregnant, the request for an Entry-XI visa was rejected and instead an Entry X-Misc visa was granted from August 23, 2019, to June 23, 2020. On its expiry, Hemelin sought an extension, which was granted till November 23, 2020, the petition said.
On the expiry of her previous passport, the plea said, Hemelin applied to the French consulate for its renewal, and accordingly, a fresh passport was issued for a decade. Meanwhile, the query for an Entry-XI visa was directed to the FSC branch of BMC’s L Ward office for further action. The civic body then informed the police that Hemelin had applied for a marriage certificate but had not submitted any supporting documents.