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High Court: The Bombay High Court has reprimanded a refugee for overstaying in India. Not only this, the court even advised the Yemeni man to go to ‘neighbouring Pakistan’ or any Gulf country. Recently, he was issued a ‘Leave India Notice’ by the Pune Police. The petitioner says that he has been living in India for 10 years.
The case was being heard by a bench of Justice Revati Mohit Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan. According to a Live Law report, the judges said, “You can go to Pakistan, which is in the neighbourhood. Or you can go to any Gulf country. Do not take advantage of India’s liberal attitude.” Yemeni citizen Khalid Gomei Mohammad Hasan was staying in India longer than the prescribed period and he had also challenged the notice issued by the police in the court.
The bench observed that the petitioner wanted some relief as he wanted to go to Australia. Hassan is a refugee card holder and has approached the High Court to avoid being forcibly deported. In the petition, Hassan said that Yemen is going through the worst humanitarian crisis and hence he has been living in India for the last 10 years. He said in the petition that 45 lakh citizens have been displaced.
Hasan came to India on a student visa in March 2014 and his wife came to India on a medical visa in 2015. Hasan’s visa expired in February 2017 and his wife’s visa expired in September 2015. He was issued a Leave India notice by Pune police in February this year and later in April too. The police had asked him to leave India within 14 days of receiving the notice. Before the bench, the petitioner had demanded protection from deportation at least till he gets an Australian visa.
Meanwhile, the court agreed with the statement of Sandesh Patil, who appeared in court on behalf of Pune police, that the petitioner can go to 129 other countries that allow refugee card holders. The court said, ‘We can give you protection only for 15 days and not more than that.’ During this, the court also raised the issue of citizenship of the couple’s daughter, who was born in India.
The court questioned the lawyer in this regard. Patil said, ‘My Lord, if a parent is Indian, then Indian citizenship can be obtained by birth. Here both are from Yemen. Also, the girl was born after the visa of the parents expired, which means that the parents are illegal immigrants. In such a situation, citizenship cannot be given to the girl.’
