Delhi High Court - Orders
Kenneth Chidi Onyeaghala vs Foreigners Regional Registration ... on 31 October, 2023
Author: Subramonium Prasad
Bench: Subramonium Prasad
$~52
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 13110/2023
KENNETH CHIDI ONYEAGHALA ..... Petitioner
Through: Ms. Neha Kapoor and Mr. Kaushal
Mehta, Advocates.
versus
FOREIGNERS REGIONAL REGISTRATION OFFICE DELHI
(FRRO) ..... Respondent
Through: Ms. Nidhi Raman, CGSC with Mr.
Zubin Singh, Mr. Akash Mishra,
Advovcates and Mr. Ravindra
Vikram, GP for FRRO.
Insp. Shashank and Insp. Satish
Kumar, FRRO Office.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD
ORDER
% 31.10.2023
1. The Petitioner has approached this Court challenging the
Communication dated 19.09.2023 rejecting the visa extension application of the Petitioner.
2. Material on record reveals that the Petitioner has been convicted in FIR No.291/11 for the offences under Sections 302/392/397/411/120B/34 of IPC registered at PS Tilak Nagar. The Petitioner has been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. An appeal against the Order of conviction has also been dismissed vide Order dated 28.03.2023.
3. The Petitioner approached the Prison Authorities for grant of parole.
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 22:29:28 However, the application of the Petitioner has been rejected by Order dated 06.07.2023. The relevant portion of the said Order reads as under:
"1. As per Rule 1211 of Delhi Prison Rule-2018, which provide that:
"In the following cases, parole shall not be granted, except if in the discretion of the competent authority special circumstances exist for grant of parole; (IV) Convicted foreigners subject to prior approval of Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of External Affairs and having valid permission to stay in India. In this case, the above said convict is a foreign national of Nigeria. Keeping in view of the gravity of the offence, the parole has been rejected in view of the above rule.
2. The Prison Department has recommended that the request of said convict for grant of parole on the ground of filing SLP In Supreme Court and social ties with family members, being generic, does not attract exceptional conditions to qualify relief under Rule 1211 of Delhi Prison Rules-2018 as that filing of SLP In Supreme Court by a private Senior Counsel is always a costly affair for which the convict, probably, cannot met due to the weak financial condition of his family (As per report of probation officer, his family belongs to economically weaker section). Instead, he can avail legal aid facility from the Jail where he can get his SLP drafted by Legal Aid advocate and file It In the Supreme Court.
3. Further, as per police verification report received from Addl. DCP-1, Outer North District, Delhi, It is stated that the given address is not verified and ACP, Swaroop Nagar, Delhi has highly opposed the grant of parole to said convict."
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 22:29:28
4. The Petitioner's application for parole has been primarily rejected on the ground that the reason given in the application for parole which is for filing of an SLP was not accepted by the Prison Authorities and the Petitioner was permitted to avail legal aid facilities from the jail itself. The Petitioner is residing in the country illegally without a valid visa. The argument that the Petitioner cannot be denied a valid visa which will impact his application for parole cannot be accepted at this juncture because the Petitioner has been denied parole on other ground.
5. In view thereof, it is open for the Petitioner to challenge the Order dated 06.07.2023 and in the event of the Petitioner succeeding in getting permission for parole, it is always open for the Petitioner to approach this Court by filing a fresh writ petition for a direction to the Respondent for grant of a visa so that he can avail the benefit of parole.
6. In view of the above, the writ petition is disposed of, along with pending application(s), if any.
SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD, J OCTOBER 31, 2023 S. Zakir This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 22:29:28