HC no to woman’s stay-extension plea after visa expiry
Times of India | 8 January 2025
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to interfere when an Algerian woman, who married a Kolkata resident, sought permission to overstay after the expiry of her visa until the marriage registration under the Special Marriage Act was completed.
The woman's tourist visa expired on Jan 6, 2025. Her visa allowed her to stay in India for 30 days. The couple, who are the petitioners, claimed to have married socially on Dec 13, 2024. The husband pleaded for permission for his wife to stay on for at least a month. The Act requires a one-month stay in India for a foreign national to marry an Indian.
But the HC noted that no document in support of the marriage was annexed, except for some photos. The prayer for an extension of the visa was rejected by the authority. Justice Amrita Sinha ordered the couple to take steps "strictly in accordance with law". "It was at her own risk and peril that the petitioner No. 2 got the courage to stay back in India despite her visa expiring... If she had any intention to get married to an Indian citizen in India, she should have taken steps within the valid period of her visa. On the plea of contracting marriage, she can't be permitted to stay back in India without valid documents," Justice Sinha ruled.
According to their writ petition, the man has been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2014 and has a work visa there till Nov 13, 2027.
It was also held that as the woman was not an Indian citizen, the writ at her instance under Article 226 of Indian Constitution, which authorises high courts to issue certain writs, cannot be held to be maintainable by her.
Relying on a Delhi HC judgement, the woman sought an extension of her visa. Additional solicitor general Ashok Kumar Chakraborty opposed the prayer and said after her prayer for an visa extension was rejected, there is no provision for further reconsideration.