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‘Show steps taken to trace foreign nationals overstaying in Bengaluru’: HC to Karnataka Government

The HC issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by two Nigerians who sought the court to declare their arrest under the provisions of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act as illegal.

3 min readBengaluruFeb 3, 2026 02:35 PM IST

Justice Nagaprasanna, said, “It is quite surprising why the state is displaying astounding silence in cases of this kind." (File photo).

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the State Government to place on record steps taken to ‘track’ and ‘trace’ foreign nationals, who are overstaying in Bengaluru, without a valid visa, or without registering themselves with the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO).

The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, mandates that registration is essential for all foreigners having visas for a period exceeding six months, except for the exempted categories, and should be done within 14 days of the first arrival at the nearest office of the FRRO.

A single judge, Justice M Nagaprasanna, issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by two Nigerians — Emeka James Iwoba and Uderike Fidelis who have approached the court seeking to declare that their arrest under the provisions of Narcotics Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act as illegal, because they were not furnished with grounds of arrest before their arrest and were not produced before the magistrate within 24 hours of arrest having been made for remand.

In the previous hearing of the petition, the court had directed Deputy Solicitor General (DGSI) Shanthi Bhushan H to secure information about the entry of the petitioners into the country and the category of visa that they had.

DSGI Bhushan on Tuesday informed the court that both the petitioners had come to India in 2015 on a business visa, their passports were valid till 2018, and as of now, they are overstaying in the country without any valid visa.

The bench then orally observed, “What is the FRRO doing in such cases? If somebody is overstaying, forging a passport, and entering the nation, it is not a security threat.”

DSGI Bhushan replied that petitioners had not registered with the FRRO, which is mandatory, and there is a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the State Government to have tackled such cases.

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He also pointed out that 25,60,468 foreigners arrived at Bengaluru airport from 2021 to 2025, and 10,547 foreigners arrived at Mangaluru airport during the same period.

Further, DSGI Bhushan said that the matter must be considered and it requires an investigation at least. He said, “Today it may be Nigerian nationals, tomorrow it could be other nationalities which pose a serious threat to national security.”

Justice Nagaprasanna, on considering the averments and record, said, “It is quite surprising why the state is displaying astounding silence in cases of this kind.” Accordingly, the court issued the direction. As regards the merits of the matter, the court said it would decide on it on Thursday.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has recently told the State Assembly that the government had intensified efforts to deport illegal immigrants, and had identified 990 such people so far, and deported 511, or more than half.

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