Karnataka High Court puts an end to efforts of blacklisted Iraqi national to enter India  

The High Court of Karnataka has put an end to the efforts of 33-year-old Iraqi national to somehow come to India, even by changing the spelling of his name, tampering with visa sticker, and making pseudo-claims of medical treatment, as his name was blacklisted for the grant of visa to enter India for overstaying during his earlier two visits.

The High Court of Karnataka has put an end to the efforts of 33-year-old Iraqi national to somehow come to India, even by changing the spelling of his name, tampering with visa sticker, and making pseudo-claims of medical treatment, as his name was blacklisted for the grant of visa to enter India for overstaying during his earlier two visits.

Sagad Kareem Ismael of Baghdad had filed a petition through his Indian special power of attorney holder, Muntandher Ahmed, 22, of Bengaluru, seeking a direction to the Ministry of External Affairs to grant him visa to enter India for medial treatment as per his application filed in February, 2024.

However, Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who noticed that the petitioner had come multiple times to India, and was blacklisted for overstaying and was now trying to come to India again for ‘pseudo’ medical treatment, dismissed the petition.

Ismael first came to Bengaluru in 2012 for pursuing a pharmacy course and he was sent out in 2017 after he overstayed for 11 months after the expiry of visa, and his name was blacklisted to enter India till May 2019. He made futile efforts to come back during the blacklisted period.

After this period, he was allowed to come on a medical visa twice to undergo treatment and again was blacklisted for overstaying. He filed a petition in 2020 questioning rejection of visa but this petition is still pending for adjudication as it was not filed in the proper format.

Following this, he changed the spelling of his name as “Sagad Kareem Ismael”, and secured new passport. Later he secured a medical certificate, issued by a hospital in Baghdad, for treatment in a private hospital in Bengaluru, which also recommended grant of visa.

With the new documents, he applied for visa again but his application was rejected, due to being blacklisted. This led him to execute a special power of attorney, which is not valid in India, in Baghdad in favour of Mr. Muntandher to file the present petition.