Madras High Court directs MHA to frame laws to ensure that illegal immigrants don’t overstay by committing petty crimes
The court also notes that despite the presence of adequate guidelines to ensure that deporting illegal immigrants, lack of coordination between state law enforcement, FRRO and ICP renders it innefective.
Madras High Court issued directions to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to frame appropriate laws so as to prevent illegal immigrants from overstaying in the country on the pretext of committing petty crimes & being imprisoned as a result.
Justice M Dhandapani, in this judgment, has noted that exhaustive guidelines have been framed by Ministry of Home Affairs for identification and deportation of illegal migrants and persons who are overstaying their visa period.
However, despite these guideline, some foreign nationals have been overstaying in the country without proper documentation for decades without steps being taken to off-board them to their country of origin. The judgment notes that despite Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and International Checkpost (ICP) are agencies who possess the data of foreign nationals living in India, illegal immigrants cannot be identified and deported without the active participation of State law enforcement authorities.
According to the judgment, there is no coordinated effort between governmental agencies and State law enforcing agency as a result of which the illegal immigrants continue to stay in the country despite their visas having expired.
It further notes that, in order to continue their stay in India illegal immigrants resort to committing petty offences, get imprisoned for the same, come out and commit offences all over again. Despite such acts being a threat to the safety and security of the country, there is no mechanism available to identify such individuals and curb the acts.
The judgment notes that in the absence of any mechanism, the court is constrained to issue directions to to ensure that the guidelines issued by MHA are effectively followed. The following are some of the important directions prescribed in the judgment
i) The FRRO/ICP shall communicate fortnightly, the entry of any foreign national within the State with details of the Passport and visa as also their nationality to the State Law Enforcing Agency;
ii) Insofar as the illegal migrants are concerned, who are identified by the State Law Enforcing Agency, they shall be forthwith sent to the detention camps/holding centres as per the guidelines framed by the Ministry of Home Affairs as noted above;
iii) On the illegal migrants being brought to the detention camps/holding homes, necessary action shall be taken by the concerned authorities for deporting/repatriating the illegal migrants to their country of birth within the time prescribed in the guidelines;
iv) The Law Enforcing Agency of the State shall take steps to identify the foreign nationals, who are lodged in various prisons throughout the State, as also the illegal migrant, confined in prison for any crime and take appropriate steps to have the person deported to his/her country of birth immediately on completion of the sentence;
iv) Insofar as petty offences being committed by illegal immigrants repeatedly for the purpose of staying within the territorial limits of the Indian sub-continent is concerned, the MHA is directed to explore the possibilities of framing appropriate laws to keep the illegal migrants as prisoners within the confines of the detention camps/holding camps by earmarking specific areas within the detention camps/holding camps so that immediately on completion of the sentence by such of those persons, the said individuals could be deported back to their country of birth;
The above mentioned directions were held in a case titled Suresh Raj Vs State, wherein foreign nationals who have entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visa petitioned the court to grant them bail after being apprehended by the police. The court after considering the above mentioned contentions denied bail.