The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the detention of a Nigerian national confined in the Special Camp (Foreigners) in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, while directing the Union Government to decide on his pending application for Indian citizenship within three months.

"While declining to interfere with the impugned order passed by the High Court, we should direct the Union that all the applications filed by the petitioner shall be processed within a period of three months from today and the final outcome shall be informed to the petitioner herein," the Court ordered.

The Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan upheld the Madras High Court's decision, which had dismissed a plea challenging a Government Order (G.O.) authorizing the Nigerian national’s detention after he was granted bail in a criminal case.

The petitioner, married to an Indian woman, had been detained due to his expired visa, possession of bogus documents, and involvement in multiple offences.

The detenu’s wife had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the Madras High Court's June 18, 2024, order. The High Court had refused to quash the G.O., citing public interest and serious allegations against the petitioner. It was revealed during the proceedings that the Nigerian national possessed five passports, had created a fraudulent website, and defrauded victims of approximately ₹40 lakhs. The Supreme Court took note of these findings and chose not to interfere.

The Court, however, addressed the petitioner’s application for Indian citizenship, noting that its status remained unclear. It directed the Union Government to decide the application expeditiously, stating, "If the citizenship is to be declined, then the Union must say so as early as possible, and if it is to be granted, then it may proceed accordingly. To keep this petitioner in a detention camp for an indefinite period is also not proper."

The Bench also directed that if continued detention is warranted after the citizenship decision, the petitioner should be transferred to a detention facility in Uttar Pradesh, considering his wife resides in Kanpur and the petitioner faces a language barrier in Tamil Nadu. "If ultimately, the petitioner is to be confined in a Detention Camp in accordance with the rules governing the same pending the final disposal of the prosecutions instituted against him, then he may be kept in any part within the State of Uttar Pradesh and not any other State. We say so because his wife is residing in Kanpur and also there is a language barrier, he being a Nigerian citizen. If the petitioner is to be brought before the trial court in different states in connection with the cases instituted against him then this can be done even through video conferencing," the Court ordered.

Cause Title: Jyoti Tobi Jones v. The Additional Secretary to the Government & Ors. [Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 12912/2024]

Appearance:-

Petitioner: Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam, Advocates Puneet Singh Bindra, Anas Tanwir (AOR), Ebad Ur Rahman, Sonal Kushwah, Suryaansh Kishan Razdan, Abhas Upmanyu

Respondent: Advocates Sabarish Subramanian (AOR), Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Danish Saifi, Aswani Satheesh, Siddhant Singh, ASG KM Nataraj, Advocates Vatsal Joshi, Diwakar Sharma, Shashank Bajpai, Prasenjeet Mohapatra, Akshay Amritanshu, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Shashank Bajpai, Raj Bahadur Yadav (AOR)

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