In response to a petition in the Karnataka High Court, the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Bengaluru, informed the High Court that 1,165 foreign nationals from 68 countries are overstaying in the city as on January 1, 2016.
This assumes significance in view of the aftermath of a car accident which killed a local woman and in the mistaken identity attack on a Tanzanian girl on January 31 by a mob fury at the outskirts of Bengaluru.
According to S Krishna Dixit, Assistant Solicitor General submitted a list before the court in response to bail petitions filed by foreigners booked for overstaying in the city. As per the list, Sudan tops with 212 of its nationals overstaying, followed by Congo (164), Ivory Coast (100), Yemen (99) and Nigeria (93).
As per section 14 of the Foreigners Act, any person violating visa conditions faces a five-year sentence apart from paying a penalty. He drew the court’s attention to the light punishment being imposed by trial courts wherein violators are released after they pay Rs5,000-10,000 fine and undergo two-three day sentences. According to the submission to the court that about 30,000 foreign nationals are staying in Karnataka .
Meanwhile the Bengaluru police is preparing a database on more than 23,000 foreign nationals staying in Bengaluru. According to Additional Commissioner of Police (west ) Charan Reddy the exercise to create a database on the foreign nationals commenced.
He said “We have already started this exercise to get details about foreign nationals, especially where are they staying. We should at least know which areas they are located in to communicate with them in case of any situation.” Teams have been formed in all the 105 police stations in Bengaluru to personally call on the address given by any foreign national and revalidate the information given by them. The police are insisting that this is no racial profiling, and a positive move that will help them in the long run.
According to Bengaluru police and FRRO, 1,165 foreign nationals from 68 countries are overstaying in the city as on January 1, 2016.
The police say that the overstaying foreign nationals in Bengaluru and rest of Karnataka will be asked to leave the country after paying a fine, as stipulated by the 2014 MEA guidelines.
According to the FRRO, about 30,000 registered foreign nationals are staying in State of Karnataka at present, out of which about 23,000 are in Bengaluru.