Karnataka High Court Directs State To Set Up District-Level Committees To Deal With Illegal Immigrants Within 3 Months
The Karnataka High Court on Friday [October 16] allowed a batch of criminal petitions and quashed the crimes registered against a Bengaluru-based doctor who was arrested on complaints allegedly lodged by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants whom he had helped identify before the authorities.
While doing so, the court has also directed the State to establish district-level committees to deal with illegal immigrants in terms of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs' Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
A Single Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the orders in the criminal petitions and the connected writ petition filed by Dr. Nagendrappa T.
The Court, while dictating the operative portion of the order, stated:
“….Criminal petitions are allowed. Crimes registered in... stand quashed. Writ petition stands disposed of with a direction to the State to establish district-level committees to deal with illegal immigrants as directed in the SOP. The said committee shall be put in place within 3 months…”
To recap, the High Court had earlier called for strict implementation of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing the identification and deportation of illegal immigrants,
The court had then directed the Bureau of Immigration and the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) to place on record the steps taken to implement the MHA's procedure for identification and deportation of illegal immigrants.
The petitioner's counsel, Advocate Girish Bhardwaj, had earlier claimed that the petitioner's arrest stemmed from the authorities' failure to implement the Centre's own procedure for identifying and deporting illegal immigrants.
The remark was with reference to the District Special Task Forces contemplated under the MHA's Procedure dated May 2, 2025, for identification of illegal immigrants.
The petitioner's counsel had also relied upon the MHA Procedure dated May 2, 2025 and the MHA Advisory dated August 8, 2017, contending that they mandate States to identify illegal migrants and initiate their deportation expeditiously.
For further context, the petitions have been filed by a Bengaluru-based doctor who claims he was arrested on retaliatory complaints lodged by alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants whom he had helped identify before the authorities. He had sought quashing of his arrest and compensation for his alleged unlawful detention in the pleas.
Previously, while hearing the quashing petitions, the High Court had orally observed that the system must "stop appeasing illegal immigrants" by registering frivolous counter-cases against citizens who expose them.