LAHORE: A Pakistani boy detained in an Indian jail since August this year was released by Indian authorities and returned home on Friday.

Nasir Sultan, 15, returned through the Wagah Border on Friday, where his father Sultan Zareen and representatives of the Ansar Burney Trust were present to receive him.

The Indian government’s case against teenager, who had been in Indian jail since August under the Foreigners Act, was dropped after hectic efforts by the Ansar Burney Trust.

Nasir Sultan had crossed into India in an attempt to make it to Bollywood and become the next Shahrukh Khan, his favourite actor.

Ansar Burney, former federal minister for human rights and Chairman Ansar Burney Trust, thanked the Indian government for releasing the Pakistani child on humanitarian grounds. He especially thanked the Indian media for the kind support in the matter of human rights.

The Indian government had earlier assured Ansar Burney, a United Nations Human Rights Expert Advisor at Geneva, that it would withdraw the case against Sultan and allow him to return to Pakistan.

The parents of the Grade-10 student thanked Ansar Burney, the Indian and Pakistani media, and the Indian government for getting their son out from the prison on humanitarian grounds.

Sultan’s case had been under trial in the district court of Ferozpur in Indian Punjab. In an effort to win the release of the boy Ansar Burney had filed a writ petition in the Punjab-Haryana High Court. The Indian government eventually withdrew case and intimated the district court which gave its consent, paving the way for his release.