After repeated complaints regarding illegally staying foreign nationals overstaying, the city police have sprung into action and every police station now has a special team just to identify and act on such people in their respective jurisdictions.
The city police, after forming these special teams in March 2022, have found around 570 foreigners (till August 2022) for overstaying in the city after the expiry of their visas, according to data tabled in the Legislative Council. The data tabled by Home Minister Araga Jnanendra also says 5,936 foreign nationals are residing in the city and 3,517 people are studying in various institutions till August 2022.
In March this year, Mr. Jnanendra directed all police stations to conduct a survey of foreigners staying in their jurisdictions and submit a report to the government. Speaking to The Hindu, a senior police officer said, “Following the direction by the Minister, the department with the help of the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) started the survey by the teams formed at the police station level and identified the illegally overstaying foreigners.”
Imprisonment and fine
Officials said overstaying in India beyond the visa date can lead to a fine, imprisonment of up to five years and even a ban on entering the country again. “Now after finding out about the illegal overstaying of foreigners, we have intimated about them to respective embassies of their country and also to the Ministry of External Affairs. Apart from this, they will be kept at the Foreigners Detention Centers in the city till cases against them are disposed of and they get an exit permit from the concerned departments,” the officer explained.
Mr. Jnanendra said the government has given instructions to the police department to soon deport overstaying foreigners in the city since they may indulge in anti-national activities. “Those who were staying illegally were arrested and sent to a detention centre and I have directed officials to process the further procedure of deporting overstaying foreigners soon to their country.”
Shortage of detention centres
Meanwhile, police officials say there is a shortage of detention centres in the city to accommodate overstaying foreigners and they had proposed to the government to expand the capacity of the existing detention centres for foreigners.
A police source said, “Due to space constraints, the detention centre staff are returning overstaying foreigners back to the police. With no options available, we arrested them under the Foreigners Act and remanded them to judicial custody to Parappana Agrahara to accommodate them.”
In August this year in a meeting, Mr. Jnanendra urged the Social Welfare Department to sanction the project and release funds for expanding the detention centre in the city. In the meeting, Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said his department will review the proposal.
Overcrowding
The existing detention centre at Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru, according to officials, is small and there was a need to expand it further. The detention centre with a capacity of around 40 inmates, gets overcrowded and the officials consider the gender and seniority of the inmates to release them after an undertaking.
The police also avoid booking foreigners under IPC and other Acts as they would prefer to get arrested and sent to Parappana Agrahara instead of going to the detention centre and being deported, a senior officer said. The arrest and remanding them to judicial custody also indirectly get them permitted to stay in the city as they cite the reason for cases booked against them and stay back on the pretext of attending court hearings, according to police.
