( 1 ) THIS application for issue of a writ of habeas corpus concerns the obligation of the Central Government under S. 9 (2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to determine the question as to whether the detenu-Syed Amrullah Qadri -- has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of Pakistan and consequently ceased to be a citizen of India?

( 2 ) IN the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition by one Syed Safiullah Qadri, the brother of the detenu, it was averred that the detenu was arrested on 20-6-1996 by the Inspector of Police, Special Branch, Hyderabad, the second respondent, on a complaint given by some of his (detenu s) enemies to the effect that he is not a citizen of India and although an interim injunction was obtained by the detenu by filing a suit -- O. S. No. 211 of 1991 -- on the file of the V Assistant Judge, City Civil Court for a declaration that he is a citizen of India and when the suit is still pending adjudication, attempts are being made for the deportation of the detenu to Pakistan.

( 3 ) AN interim direction was issued by a Division Bench of this Court, to which one of us (M. N. Rao, J. ,) was a party, having been satisfied that the petitioner has made out a prima facie case especially when he claimed that in spite of the subsistence of the interim injunction, the police have made attempts for the deportation of the detenu from the country, that pending further orders, the detenu shall not be deported from the country. By then, already, !he detenu was taken to Banner Checkpost (Rajasthan) of the Indo-Pakistan border and in compliance of the above directions, the detenu was brought back to Hyderabad.

( 4 ) THE Union of India, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, was subsequently impleaded as the third respondent on 8-7-1996.

( 5 ) THE Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad City, filed a counter-affidavit deposing to the facts on the basis of the available records that the real name of the detenu is Syed Arif Amrullah Qadri, who was born in India on 23-6-1947 but went to Pakistan on 5-8-1963 on an Indian Passport for higher studies. He was admitted to the National Engineering College, Karachi in the year 1965 and when the Indo-Pak war broke out in 1965, he opted to become a Pakistani citizen. After completing the course of B. E. , in Metallurgy in 1969 from the National Engineering College, Karachi, the detenu went to the United States of America and obtained the degree of B. S. , in Engineering and Technology and thereafter, went to Canada for employment and became a Canadian immigrant in 1977. The father of the detenu -- Sri Syed Kallemullah Qadri -- was a Member of the Board of Revenue in the Andhra State and consequent upon the reorganisation of the States, he was transferred io the State of Maharashtra, from where he retired and died subsequently on 8-3-1981. The detenu, in the year 1980, voluntarily obtained a Pakistani passport No. AJ 006615 showing his name as Syed Arif Qadri valid up to 22-7-1985 and thus, he lost his Indian citizenship. He entered India on 23-7-1980 on the strength of the above Pakistani passport and for over-staying in India, an order of deportation was passed on 30-6-1982 in Proceedings No. 1354/ppts/ 81 in File No. SB/619/83/80 and accordingly, he was deported to Pakistan on 5-7-1982 vide Exit No. 58/82 through Barmer Checkpost in Rajasthan. It is also averred in the counter-affidavit by the Commissioner of Police that the detenu, while in Karachi, obtained Pakistani Driving Licence No. 445719 in 1980 showing his name as Syed Amrullah Qadri. He came to India again in 1983 on the strength of the above Pakistani passport and stayed at House No. 16-2-27, Akbar Bagh, Hyderabad, unauthorisedly without reporting about his arrival in the office of the Commissioner of Police. In 1991, when attempts were made by the police to apprehend the detenu, he escaped and filed the suit -- O. S. No. 211 of 1991 -- for a declaration that he is a citizen of India a