"I will end my life instead of going back to Pakistan," said Seema. (Representational)
Their cross-border love story hit a dead-end after they were arrested and put in jail, but India's Sachin Meena and Pakistan's Seema Haider are set for a new turn as they walked out of prison on a rain-soaked Saturday on getting bail.
They were granted bail on Friday by a court in Jewar. It also ordered that as long as the case continues, Seema will not change her residence and live with Sachin.
Seema was arrested on July 4 for illegally entering into India without a visa via Nepal with her four children, all aged below seven years, while Sachin was put behind bars for sheltering the illegal immigrants.
After being released, Sachin, 22, and Seema, 30, reached his parents' house at Meena Thakuran colony in Greater Noida's Rabupura area at 10 am to live together along with her children.
"Sachin Meena and Seema Haider were released from jail around 8.30 am after all paperwork was completed. Seema's four children who were also staying with her also went with her," Arun Pratap Singh, the superintendent of the Luksar Jail where they were lodged, told PTI.
Seema, who hails from Sindh province in Pakistan and was settled in Karachi after her marriage in 2014, also offered prayers at a temple in Sachin's house.
"I will end my life instead of going back to Pakistan. He (Sachin) also cannot live without me," Seema told reporters when asked for her response in case the Indian government deports her.
Sachin, who works at a grocery store, said he wants to live with Seema and her children in Greater Noida only.
The duo said they would contact lawyers to find out a way to legalise her stay in India. Seema said she will accept Hinduism.
Sachin told reporters that they would soon take a dip in the holy Ganga together for her to embark on their new journey.
A civil court in Jewar had on Friday granted bail to the duo and ordered that as long as the case continues against them, Seema will not change her residence and live with Sachin, their advocate Hemant Krishna Parashar told PTI.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Saad Miya Khan said the case is under trial and the police will file a charge sheet in the court soon.
On bail to the couple within three days, the police officer told PTI: "It's the honourable court's decision and I don't want to comment on it." Seema and Sachin had got in touch in 2019 while playing online game PUBG and eventually grew closer to the extent that they decided to live together in India -- all unknown to her husband Ghulam Haider who was away in Saudi Arabia for work.
In a video message from Saudi Arabia, Seema's husband Ghulam Haider urged the Indian government to help him reunite with his wife. He said it was through the Indian media that he got to know that his wife and children are in Greater Noida.
However, Seema told reporters that she did not wish to go back to Ghulam Haider and claimed threat to her life if she returns to their native place in Pakistan, citing stringent local laws.
In March this year, Sachin and Seema met in Kathmandu in Nepal where they stayed together for seven days and got secretly married, according to police and advocate Parashar.
Later, she went back to Pakistan and Sachin returned to India. Back home, Seema, who claimed discord with her husband, sold a plot for Pakistani rupees 12 lakh, arranged for fight tickets and visa for Nepal for herself and her children, according to police.
In May she reached Nepal via Dubai and spent some time in the tourist city of Pokhara in the Himalayan nation. Then she took a bus for Delhi from Kathmandu and reached Greater Noida on May 13 with her children where Sachin had made arrangements for her to stay in a rented accommodation without disclosing her Pakistani identity, officials said.
More than one-and-a-half-month later, local police got a whiff of a Pakistani woman and her children's illegal presence in their area. Sachin, Seema and her children tried to evade police arrest and fled, but were caught in Ballabhgarh in Haryana. Police then questioned them and officially arrested them on July 4, the officials said.
They also arrested Sachin's father Netrapal Singh (50), accusing him of helping in sheltering illegal immigrants. Singh was also granted bail by the local court on Thursday, a day before it ordered the release of the couple.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)