Cross-border love stories are not new. Most of them begin and flourish on social media which doesn’t have geographical barriers, but later get bogged down when the lovers try to cross the troubled physical borders of their nations.
Badal Babu, a twenty-year-old tailor from Nagla Khatkari village of Uttar Pradesh, has been arrested by Pakistan police from Mandi Bahauddin town in Punjab province. During questioning, he failed to produce valid travel documents and was subsequently charged under Sections 13 and 14 of the Pakistan Foreigners Act, 1946.
Badal was produced in a court which sent him to 14 days in jail. He is scheduled to appear in court again on January 10. According to Pakistani authorities, Badal confessed during interrogation that he had developed a romantic relationship with a woman from Mandi Bahauddin and, desperate to meet her in person, entered the country without a valid visa or travel documents.
Badal reportedly met the woman on social media. Their online friendship blossomed into a romantic relationship, prompting Badal to take the dangerous step of crossing the heavily guarded India-Pakistan border, without a visa or passport, to meet her.
His first two attempts failed, but on his third attempt, Badal successfully crossed into Pakistan and reached Mandi Bahauddin, where he reportedly met the woman he had been communicating with online.
Pakistani authorities are now investigating whether Badal's illegal entry into the country was purely driven by his romantic relationship with the woman or if there were other motivations.
Family in shock
Badal was born in a family of daily-wagers at Nagla Khatkari in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. He has two brothers and one sister.
His elder brother Rup Kishor told THE WEEK that Badal had left for Delhi during the Covid-19 lockdown to work as a tailor at a garments factory in Gandhi Nagar in Dharampura area. Badal used to visit home during festivals like Holi and Raksha Bandhan.
Kishore said Badal last made a video call to the family on October 30 at 12.11 noon. His family had no knowledge about his online activities and plans to travel to Pakistan.
Badal’s father, Kripal Singh, said he was a nice boy though he couldn't complete high school.
His mother, Gayatri Devi, has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to step in to help bring his son back.
According to reports, Badal’s villagers describe him as a reserved young man while his colleagues in Delhi described him as a diligent person.
Aligarh SSP Sanjeev Suman said no official communication from Pakistan or the Indian Embassy had been received on Badal’s arrest. However, preliminary investigations reveal that Badal has made a video call to his family from a Pakistani number.
Badal’s travel to Pakistan is the latest in a long list of cross-border love tales, including the stories of Pakistani nationals Seema Haider and Iqra Jiwani, who had entered India illegally for love.
