Karnataka High Court directs State to set up district-level committees to tackle illegal immigration

The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the State government to establish district-level committees to deal with illegal immigration within three months [Nagendrappa T & others v. State of Karnataka & others].

Justice M Nagaprasanna issued the direction while disposing of a petition filed by Bengaluru resident Nagendrappa T, who had challenged his arrest after complaining about illegal immigrants in the city.

“The said committee shall be put in place within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and compliance to that effect be placed before the Registry of this Court in the subject petition,” the Court directed.

The Court also quashed the FIRs registered against him by the Bellandur and Varthur police.

“The criminal petitions are allowed. The two crimes registered stand quashed,” the Court ordered.

On July 29, the High Court had come down heavily on the State police and the Home Department while staying the criminal proceedings against Nagendrappa.

“Ask them to control this (illegal immigration), leave other talks. What is the (Home) Department doing? Busy with other speeches?” the Court had orally remarked, without naming the Home Minister.

According to the petition, Nagendrappa had informed the Bellandur police on July 22 about six Bangladeshi nationals allegedly residing near DS Max Apartments in Hadosiddapura, Bengaluru, without valid passports or visas.

The petitioner claimed that the police subsequently took the individuals before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for deportation proceedings.

He alleged that a complaint accusing him of assault was lodged approximately 15 minutes later, in retaliation for his complaint to the police. The Bellandur police registered an FIR against him on the same day under Sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 79 (uttering words, making gestures or engaging in acts intended to insult a woman's modesty or intruding upon her privacy), 352 (intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of peace), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation involving threats of death, grievous hurt or other specified serious harm) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

Nagendrappa contended that the police had registered the case without preliminary verification or a medical examination of the complainant.

He was arrested on July 23. Challenging the arrest, he alleged that the police had failed to comply with the statutory safeguards governing arrest under Section 35 of the BNSS), 2023. He further contended that the arrest memo and grounds of arrest had not been meaningfully communicated or furnished to him.

Nagendrappa had separately challenged the FIR registered by the Varthur police, which invoked Sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of peace), read with Section 3(5) (joint liability for a criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of their common intention) of the BNS, 2023.

Advocate Girish Bharadwaj appeared for the petitioner, while State Public Prosecutor B N Jagadesh appeared for the State.

Detailed order is awaited.