High Court of Karnataka
As the reported presence of large number of illegal immigrants in Bengaluru city and other parts of the state is a national security concern, the Karnataka High Court has directed the city police to provide details of the steps taken to clear the illegal immigrants.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna gave the direction in his preliminary order on February 4 while remanding one of the two criminal cases filed against Puneeth Kerehalli, a self-styled activist, in connection with his acts of trespassing at various places, including private land where illegal immigrants were allegedly staying.
In an oral inquiry as to what was wrong when someone tried to identify illegal immigrants and wanted the police to intervene, the court held a suo motu first information report (FIR) registered by the police on the conduct of the petitioner in entering some places in the city where illegal immigrants, said to be from Bangladesh, were allegedly staying.
The court orally told Additional Public Prosecutor BN Jagadheesha that illegal immigration poses a threat to national security irrespective of the country in which these illegal immigrants are located.
However, the court did not stay the investigation into another FIR registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Karibasappa, a private property owner, who alleged that the petitioner had trespassed on his land and assaulted certain persons on the pretext of inquiring about alleged illegal immigrants residing there.
The court only asked the police not to take coercive action against the petitioner in this case and directed the police to produce a video recording of the alleged incident after Mr. Jagadeesha told the court that there were video recordings of the alleged act of assault by the petitioner.
Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel Venkatesh P. Dalwai had argued that instead of cracking down on the illegal immigrants, the police had registered an FIR against the petitioner who was leading the police to the places where these immigrants were staying. The petitioner’s counsel also told the court that media reports suggest that there are nearly 20 million illegal immigrants in Karnataka.
However, Mr Jagadeesha said state authorities have been cracking down on illegal immigrants and many have been sent to alien detention centers by Union government authorities to be deported to their country of origin.
Published – 06 Feb 2026 19:48 IST
