Bangladeshi Christian ‘illegal migrant’ granted bail in Karnataka taking note of CAA

January 28: Taking note of the provisions of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Karnataka High Court granted bail to a Bangladeshi Christian illegal migrant, Archona Purnima Pramanik , a resident of Bengaluru.

The material allegations against the petitioner i.e. Archona Purnima Pramanik is that she is a Bangladeshi National and an illegal migrant. She obtained Indian documents like PAN Card, Aadhar Card in her name and on the strength of these documents, she fraudulently obtained an Indian Passport No.T4527612 dated 28.03.2019 vide passport application No. BN3061965327319. The complaint was lodged by the Assistant Passport Officer, Bengaluru. She was arrested and is in custody since November 2019.

Thereafter, she filed a bail application and the said bail application has been dismissed by the LIX Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bangalore city, by order dated 04.12.2019, on the ground that there is prima facie material to show manipulation of records by the petitioner and that the matter is under investigation and in the event she is released on bail, she may destroy the records or manipulate the records and may flee from justice.

Again, she filed another bail petition under section 439 of Cr.P.C. for grant of regular bail in Crime No.235/2019 registered under sections 465, 471, 468 of IPC, sections 5, 12 and 14 of Foreigners Act, 1946 and section 3(1)(c) of the Citizenship of Indian Act, 1955 before the Karnataka High Court as Criminal Petition no.279/2020. In her bail application before the High Court, it was contended that as per the Section 2 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 as amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, she cannot be treated as an illegal migrant and all the proceedings initiated against her shall stand abated on conferment of the Citizenship Act and hence, if she need to apply for citizenship, as per the above provisions, her presence is very much required.

As per Live Law, while granting her conditional bail, Justice John Michael Cunha noted that amended section 2 of the Citizenship Act as amended by CAA 2019 provides that, any person Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made there-under, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act. The Judge observed:

“The allegations in the instant case are that the petitioner has fabricated and manipulated the documents relating to her identity namely Aadhar Card, PAN card and Passport and on the strength of these documents, she has been claiming to be a citizen of India. These allegations require to be established during trial. Petitioner has taken up a plea that all these documents are lawfully obtained by her after following due procedure and under the said circumstances, in view of the Amendment to the Citizenship Act and there being prima facie material to show that the petitioner has been residing in India since 2002 with her husband and child, until the allegations made against the petitioner are established in a full-dressed trial, the petitioner is entitled to be enlarged on bail. In the light of the above facts and circumstances, even the applicability of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 may have to be decided before proceeding against the petitioner.”

It was under such conditions that the High Court granted her bail subject to certain conditions. Click here to read the order of Karnataka High Court.