Foreigners can claim right to life and liberty not to reside and settle in India: Delhi HC

Foreigners cannot claim right to reside and settle in India, observed the Delhi High Court, saying their fundamental rights are limited to protection of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. “We may also note that foreign national cannot claim that he has the right to reside and settle in India in terms of Article 19 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India,” said a division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain. “Fundamental right of any such foreigner or suspected foreigner is limited to the one declared under Article 21 of Constitution of India, that is, fundamental right of life and liberty and there is nothing which may suggest that his liberty has been curtailed in an illegal or unlawful manner,” the court said. With this observation, the Delhi High Court dismissed a habeas corpus plea claiming that a Bangladeshi national, named Azal Chakma, was illegal and without authority in India. The petition was moved by the man’s uncle. In the plea, it was alleged that Chakma is Indian citizenship by birth and had his initial education in Gomati in Tripura and later in Shillong, Meghalaya. For the unversed, a habeas corpus petition is filed seeking direction to produce a person who is missing or has been illegally detained. Chakma was apprehended at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in October 2022 during immigration clearance when he was attempting to depart for Dhaka (Bangladesh’s capital) using a fraudulently obtained Indian passport. It was being alleged that Chakma entered India illegally through porous border and managed to obtain Indian documents in fraudulent and dishonest manner. However, the authorities claimed after scrutiny it transpired that Chakma had been visiting India till 2016 on the basis of multiple Indian visas on a passport issued to him by Bangladesh. They also claimed he had left India on a Bangladeshi passport in June 2016 and it was not known how he subsequently sneaked into India. Chakma’s passport was revoked by the Indian authorities in June 2023. The Delhi court said, as per Chakma’s own admission before the Bangladeshi authorities, when he had applied for visa for India in 2010-2011, he claimed to be a Bangladeshi national by birth. The judicial body further said no plausible response was given regarding the said documents and the passport issued to Chakma by the Bangladeshi authorities and that how and when he entered India after he had gone to Dhaka on the basis of Bangladeshi passport. It further said Chakma himself is to be blamed for his miseries as he has failed to explain as to how he came to India when he had left the country on a Bangladeshi passport. “It is not a case of preventive detention. His movements have been restricted in accordance with law so that he can be deported back,” the court said. Chakma’s movements were restricted under the provisions of the Foreigners Act and the High Commission of Bangladesh has already issued travel documents for his repatriation. He will be deported as soon as the authorities get a confirmed air ticket for him from the Embassy of Bangladesh, the court was informed. With inputs from agencies