india

Updated: Dec 19, 2018 08:30 IST

Hamid Ansari, who spent years in jail on charges of spying and was released by Pakistan on Tuesday, has reached New Delhi, reports news agency ANI.

“I feel really good coming back home. I am very emotional right now,” Ansari said, according to ANI.

Ansari had entered Pakistan on November 12, 2012, to meet a woman whom he had befriended on social media. The 33-year-old was arrested in November 2012 and handed a three-year sentence in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card. Ansari, a resident of Mumbai, had been lodged in Peshawar’s central jail after being sentenced by the military court.

His jail term ended on December 15 and he was repatriated after the Peshawar high court gave the Pakistani government a month’s deadline to complete the process on Thursday.

He was brought to the Attari-Wagah border where he crossed over to the Indian side on Tuesday evening. As soon as Ansari crossed over to India, he bowed down and kissed Indian soil. His mother broke down.

His mother Fauzia, father Nehal and brother met him at the border and was hugged by them as he crossed over into India.

A Border Security Force (BSF) official present there said Ansari was examined by his mother. “She embraced him and then examined him thoroughly to see whether he has any torture marks,” he said.

“For us, it is like Hamid has taken a new birth. We did not celebrate any festival since my son went missing, but this is the day of celebration,” his father said before receiving his son.

He said that his son had not entered Pakistani with an intention to harm someone, he had gone there for a noble cause only, and that is why their prayer has been addressed by the god.