Delhi HC faults Centre for not following due process in OCI card holder blacklisting case

Delhi High Court orders Centre to provide U.S. citizen with OCI card an opportunity to address allegations.

The Delhi High Court has remarked that the Centre did not follow the statutory process during the deportation and blacklisting of an overseas citizen of India (OCI) card holder, involved in alleged unauthorised missionary activities in Nagaland and other northeastern States.

The court asked the Centre to give John Robert Roughton III, a U.S. citizen who held an OCI card on account of his marriage to an Indian national in 1991, an effective opportunity to address the allegations, before passing a speaking order on the issue.

“Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to serve a show-cause notice as regards the ‘blacklisting’ of the petitioner and pass a speaking order after duly considering the response of the petitioner thereto, and after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner,” the court ordered on March 28.

Mr. Roughton relocated to Dimapur, Nagaland, in February 1994 after marriage. In June 2024, the couple travelled to the U.S. to visit the petitioner’s parents but on their return to India in October that year, he was not allowed entry into the country, in spite of his valid OCI card which granted him a lifelong visa.

Also read: What is an OCI card and how to apply for it?

Mr. Roughton contended that he was neither given a reason nor any official order to explain his deportation.

The Centre’s counsel opposed the petition and said the petitioner was denied entry because he had been blacklisted by security agencies on account of his involvement in missionary activities in Nagaland and other northeastern States for several years without obtaining special permission from the competent authority.