The Madras high court has directed the Union home ministry to consider framing necessary laws in three months to prevent illegal immigrants from committing petty crimes to stay back in India. The order was passed on Monday while disposing of a batch of bail petitions filed by nationals of Sri Lanka, Nigeria, China, Iran and Bangladesh booked for various criminal cases. The court noted that in addition to their illegal status, some of them had obtained Aadhar cards using fake documents. Around 13,289 foreigners have overstayed their visa period in Tamil Nadu’s districts of Chennai, Trichy, Coimbatore and Madurai.
Justice M Dhandapani said that their bail plea was not accepted as it would be detrimental to the safety and security of the country. He added that “due to the lacunae on the part of the Governmental machinery and the Law Enforcing Agency”, certain petitioners, who are illegal immigrants, have been in India for decades without being deported back to their country of birth. “...and in course of time, the Indian sub-continent would be grazing grounds for the predators of illegal migrants with a devious mind to take over the country, which would lead to a pre-independence scenario,” the justice said in his orders.
The court said that it has come to its attention that the illegal migrants, “to circumvent the deportation procedures” and to continue living in the Indian territory “resort to certain subterfuge, like, committing petty crimes and serving simple sentences and come out and do the same once over.” However, no mechanism or law is available as of yet to identify such individuals and to curb such acts.
Given this scenario, the court pointed out that there was a lack of coordination between Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) and International Check Post (ICP) and the state law enforcing agency, and stated that it is the state set up which is the fulcrum in the setup to identify the illegal immigrants and foreign nationals without valid permission staying in the country. The court insisted that the existing guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs should be followed. The court then went on to issue more directions. It includes the state law agency to send illegal migrants to detention camps as per the union home ministry’s guidelines. The state to take steps to identify the foreign nationals, who are in various prisons and take appropriate steps to have the person deported to his/her country of birth immediately on completion of the sentence. Authorities of the FRRO and ICP have been directed to share the data of the foreign nationals with the state who, in turn, will have to coordinate with hotels, houses under their jurisdiction to monitor their departure from their place of stay.
{{/usCountry}}Given this scenario, the court pointed out that there was a lack of coordination between Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) and International Check Post (ICP) and the state law enforcing agency, and stated that it is the state set up which is the fulcrum in the setup to identify the illegal immigrants and foreign nationals without valid permission staying in the country. The court insisted that the existing guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs should be followed. The court then went on to issue more directions. It includes the state law agency to send illegal migrants to detention camps as per the union home ministry’s guidelines. The state to take steps to identify the foreign nationals, who are in various prisons and take appropriate steps to have the person deported to his/her country of birth immediately on completion of the sentence. Authorities of the FRRO and ICP have been directed to share the data of the foreign nationals with the state who, in turn, will have to coordinate with hotels, houses under their jurisdiction to monitor their departure from their place of stay.
{{/usCountry}}After directing the Union ministry of home affairs to frame laws within three months to deport such illegal immigrants after their sentence is completed, the court posted the matter to January 4, 2022, for agencies of the state and union to file a compliance report.