Punjabi welcome for NRI offenders

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

With the Assembly elections just a year away and non-resident Indians emerging as an influential bloc, Punjab’s SAD-BJP government has decided to be benevolent towards NRIs declared as Proclaimed Offenders (POs). 

Other than those against whom ‘Red Corner’ or ‘Lookout’ notices have been issued, the Punjab Police will not be arresting NRI POs upon their arrival. Instead, they will be asked to appear at the earliest before the court where a civil or criminal case is pending against them. NRIs from Punjab will also not be declared POs in absentia. 

Generally, when an NRI declared a PO by a court lands at an airport, the Immigration authorities  inform the police, if the passport details fed in the system reveal their PO status. Each state government regularly submits a list of POs to the Immigration authorities. 

However, once Punjab submits a pruned list of NRI POs to the Immigration authorities, only those mentioned can be arrested. For this purpose, Punjab has slashed the list from 700 to 200 POs. Earlier in 2013, the PO list was slashed from 1,400 to 744. 

The Aam Aadmi Party being  a “hot favourite” with the powerful NRI lobby, the ruling SAD has decided to earn their goodwill, especially since recent efforts to earn favour of the huge Punjabi diaspora has not had the desired effect.

Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Department of NRI Affairs, said the government was working on mitigating the woes of NRIs. "Often in property disputes, the 

NRIs are declared as POs, mostly in absentia. As a result, they often avoid coming back for fear of being arrested. We have pruned the list of NRIs declared as POs, and also issued instructions that NRIs declared as POs are not to be arrested once they reach here. Rather, the police will just ask them to appear before the court where proceedings have been initiated against them."

However, POs against whom Look out or Red Corner notices have been issued can be arrested once they land at any airport, he added. 

A third major decision is collection of proper evidence against the NRIs and its examination at the highest level before they are declared as POs. "They will not be declared POs in absentia and all efforts will be made to contact them, either by email or telephone or regular mail. We will wait for the NRI to submit his claim or evidence in his favour, before proceedings to declare him a PO are undertaken," said Ishwar Singh, IG, NRI wing.