Karnataka HC directs the state to plan for illegal immigrants in the state

In a judgment of the Karnataka High Court, the state government has been directed to lay out its plan in detail about the illegal migrants in the state. The state has been giving time up till November 26 for filing an affidavit with required information of the detention centres in the state of Karnataka. The state has required to detain the people who do not have the necessary paper works in the detention centres. The said direction came from the Karnataka High Court, while it was deciding on a bail plea filed for 14 of the allegedly undocumented immigrants. These 14 immigrants, alleged to be ‘illegal’, were arrested in the year 2018 from a place near Bengaluru. In the said matter, posted before Justice K.N. Pahneendra, it also sought for a guarantee from the state government of Karnataka that the human rights of these identified as ‘undocumented immigrants’ would not be violated.

Human rights of the ‘undocumented immigrants’ should not be violated, says the court

It was reported by one of the lawyers representing the petitioners that the view was to seek a permanent solution. It is attempting to solve the issue of detention of these foreigners without documents, not limited to these fifteen petitioners who have approached the court. The solution is with the view of all the foreigners in the state without documents. The said direction was passed, keeping in mind that the state does not have any detention centres, at present. The illegal immigrants in the state are being lodged in a prison in Bengaluru. It was also informed to the court by the state that currently there are a total of 612 undocumented immigrants in Karnataka. They have planned to consider setting up a detention centre in every district spread across the state. In its preliminary plan, it has identified 35 locations where these immigrants without documents, can be lodged until the new detention centres are ready. These would be used to house those detainees released on bail, granted by the court. 

Karnataka is the first state after Assam to announce its intention to build a detention centre and to hold the undocumented immigrants. The state government in Karnataka had earlier planned to do an exercise similar to the National Register Citizen [NRC] in Assam. However, it later put the said plan on hold and focused on creating a comprehensive database who did not possess the required documents. 

Arrangements for the deportation of 58 immigrants to Bangladesh

Ministry of Home Affairs via their council told the court that the states are making efforts for the deportation of these illegal immigrants back to Bangladesh. On October 25, 58 such immigrants were arrested, who are being planned to be deported. However, it also informed that in case Bangladesh refuses to host these immigrants, the state will have to be providing for them at a cost to the public exchequer. The matter was posted before Justice K.N. Phaneendra, and he observed that the primary concern to be highlighted is that after being released on bail, their status would still be ‘undocumented’, in the eyes of the law. Thus their human rights can be compromised. He directed that their human rights must not be violated and also sought a guarantee from the state that whether or not their basic needs will be taken care of, wherever they are held. 

NRC to be conducted pan-India, says Shah

Also, recently, the Home Minister stated in the Parliament that the government is planning to have an exercise similar to that of NRC, pan-India. The same will be done to identify and list the undocumented immigrants, who are technically ‘illegal’ as per the law of the land. Given the procedure followed in Assam, the onus of proving citizenship is on the residents of the country. In Assam, the citizens were required to furnish the relevant document, which could prove that their families were living in India before March 24, 1971. After a fresh round of the process concluded, over 19 lakh residents of the state were found not to be possessing the required document and hence were not included in the final register. As the last and final resort, they are filing an appeal before the Foreigners’ Tribunal [FT] being declared as foreigners.