Decades-old High Court directives on visa fraud resurface amid US deportation crackdown
An order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April 2003, followed by many more over the next two decades—mandating state intervention to clamp down on visa fraud and regulate overseas recruitment—has taken on renewed relevance amidst large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants from the United States to India.
The series of judicial orders—beginning with Justice Amar Dutt’s ruling in April 2003 and reinforced by a recent pronouncement from Justice Anoop Chitkara—might have mitigated the desperation driving many Indians toward illicit migration routes, if meticulously complied with.
On February 5, the first US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian nationals landed in Amritsar after the Trump administration intensified its crackdown on undocumented immigration.
Questions are now being raised as to whether the robust regulatory measures envisioned by the Bench could have prevented many vulnerable Indians from resorting to risky, illegal migration channels.
Justice Dutt had directed the chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana to intervene for “avoiding repetition of Malta boat tragedy”, in which 283 youngsters wanting to go abroad lost their lives.
The officers were asked to look after the “interest of poor prospective non-resident Indians, rather than confining their concern to those well-settled migrants who have already made a fortune abroad, so as to avoid repetition of Malta boat tragedy”.
The authorities were asked to consider educating the masses after consulting the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Labour. Direction was also issued to explore the possibility of preventing middlemen from making unwarranted profits by regulating recruitment and informing everyone about the demands sent by different countries for skilled and unskilled labour.
In December 2024, Justice Chitkara asserted it was essential to save the nation’s prestige and protect the public’s reputation by “sensitizing the system.”
The Directors-General of Police in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh were instructed to issue general instructions aimed at protecting legitimate victims of visa fraud.
Referring to an “alarming escalation” of visa fraud cases, Justice Chitkara warned that unchecked fraudulent activities risk reviving organised criminal networks, reminiscent of historical thugee.
The directives echo earlier observations. In November 2022, Justice Ashok Kumar Verma warned that cheating and fraud had become rampant—enabling unscrupulous individuals to amass wealth illegally overnight.
In June 2011, the court directed that the propensity to cheat by fake travel agents was required to be curbed with a heavy hand. In August 2009, the court inquired whether effective regulatory mechanisms were in place to monitor and control the activities of unscrupulous agents. Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Lalit Batra, in separate orders, repeatedly called on the States to implement robust oversight of travel agents to protect innocent citizens.
As the current US deportation measures highlight the stringent enforcement under President Trump’s immigration policies, these decades-spanning High Court directives provide a factual framework that underscores the importance of a safe and regulated recruitment ecosystem.
