Remaining in India after expiry of visa is offence, Himachal Pradesh HC reiterates while denying bail [Read Petition]

No foreigner has any right to enter or remain in India. One can enter only with a valid visa, which is a limited leave. Once, the visa expires, the person has no right to remain in the country, the Himachal Pradesh High Court reiterated recently.  
 The Court was hearing a bail matter moved by one who was arrested under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. 
 Relying on Imtizor Imamova versus State of H.P, the Justice Rakesh Kainthla reiterated that, 

..that no foreigner has any right to enter or remain in India. He can enter only with a visa, which is kind of a limited leave. Once, the visa expires, the person has no right to remain on Indian soil and if he remains so, he commits an offence. Therefore, bail cannot be granted to a foreigner accused of committing an offence punishable under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. 
 

The petition was challenging a status report asserting that the police party was on patrolling duty in August when a secret information was received stating that Shivam was selling heroin. The police associated independent witnesses and found Shivam. He threw something on seeing the police and tried to run away. The police apprehended him and found 5.42 grams of heroin. The police arrested him and recovered the heroin. On enquiry, it was revealed that he had purchased heroin from Saurav/Gaurav. The police arrested Saurav, who revealed that heroin was sold to him by the present petitioner. The police arrested the petitioner and recovered 15.95 grams of heroin from him. 
 

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that there is no evidence against the petitioner except the statement made by the co-accused, which is not a legal piece of evidence. Therefore, he prayed that for his release on bail.
 

The Additional Advocate General, Jitender Sharma submitted that the police had recovered a mobile phone containing a chat between Gaurav and the petitioner, which clearly shows that the petitioner had supplied heroin to Gaurav. The consumption of narcotics is adversely affecting the young generation of the society, he argued before opposing the grant of bail. 
 

While denying bail, the High Court also went through recent Supreme Court decisions including Bhagwan Singh v. Dilip Kumar  Deepu  Depak which highlighted the parameters for grant of bail.

[ Read Petition]