Refugee stories seldom end on a good note. They might start in the middle of someone’s life. Staying becomes impossible. Leaving seems the only option.
Twenty-nine-year-old Syrian national experienced this moment. He is living with HIV and is LGBTQ+. Returning to Syria would cost him his life. He came to India instead.
Now he is in a detention centre in Ahmedabad. He wonders if this country will let him stay.
The Gujarat High Court has permitted the Syrian national and his Gujarati partner to meet once a month at the Joint Interrogation Centre in Ahmedabad, where he has been held since November last year.
According to reports, the 29-year-old came to India in 2019 to study at a private university in Rajkot. He met his Gujarati partner and the two were living together in Khambhaliya in Devbhoomi Dwarka district. His visa expired in 2023. He applied for refugee status with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and received a primary 30-day refugee card in January 2024.
Then came the arrest. Following the Red Fort blast in New Delhi in November 2025, Khambhaliya police conducted a combing operation. The Syrian national was picked up for overstaying his visa and booked under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. His partner was arrested too.
The partner was later granted bail. The Syrian national was not. He was placed in the Joint Interrogation Centre in Ahmedabad under the Foreigners Regional Registration Office.
Both have since petitioned the Gujarat High Court, seeking quashing of the FIR, a long-term visa for the Syrian national, and a direction to the Centre to consider his pending refugee status application.
His advocate told the court that if refugee status is granted, the charges under the Foreigners Act would be read down, as the Act excludes refugees.
Why can he not simply go back? His advocate explained that to the court too. Returning to Syria would put his life at risk on account of his sexual orientation. He also belongs to the Alawite community, which is facing persecution following the collapse of the Assad regime. The regime itself was Alawite, and its fall has made life dangerous for members of the community still in Syria.
He has no family to go back to. His partner in India is his only contact. On February 23, Justice M R Mengdey issued notices to the concerned authorities and allowed the two to meet, once a month, for half an hour, in the presence of a police inspector at the JIC.
Half an hour a month is what the court could give them for now.
When the matter came up again on Monday before Justice J L Odedra, his lawyers pressed for his release from the JIC. His health, they said, is getting worse. His spine is being affected. He has severe back pain. Three of his fingers have become stiff. There were complaints that he was not getting proper medical attention inside the centre.
Justice Odedra directed the concerned medical authority to submit a medical report and prognosis of his condition before the next date of hearing. The matter is listed for March 30.
Also Read: Fewer Grams, Same Crisis: Gujarat Cuts School Snacks but Not Malnutrition Numbers https://www.vibesofindia.com/fewer-grams-same-crisis-gujarat-cuts-school-snacks-but-not-malnutrition-numbers/
