May 1 2009 Beyond the Scope of Responsibility

Just sitting around watching a little cricket when a knock comes on the door. The LIU, that’s short for Local Intelligence Unit- a division of the police were at the door. An older guy and a young guy. They showed me their credentials and wanted to ask some questions.

I was a little taken aback. But what the thing involved was Manoj’s passport application. They just wanted to verify the particulars like the address and so forth. So it was a routine followup to that application.

Now I am not fond of Indian police for a number of reasons, mostly due to their abuse of power, force and corruption. And a lot of them don’t even know the laws they are pretending to enforce.

These guys were polite and once the address and such was verified they went downstairs to verify with the landlord as well.

So all well and good I thought.

Then comes another knock at the door. The younger guy with a piece of paper and pen wants me to write down my particulars including passport number and so forth. No problem. I give this information on a regular basis at every hotel I stay at in the Form C which is required to be filled out by foreigners.

Then he wants me to write the particulars of my tenancy in this place. Things such as who is the landlord and what is the rent. Also not a problem. I don’t lie to police as that gives them leverage to open the door to extortion. And believe me they only need a glimpse of that door opening to jump all over it and take advantage.

The problem according to this guy is that I didn’t fill out a Form C for my tenancy here. Well all well and good. The fine for that according to the Foreigners Registration Act 1939 is 1,000 rupees and payable by the landlord.

Now the thing is this tenancy falls under the Indian Tenancy Act and not the FRA and its subsequent amendments. Which means that I don’t have to fill out a Form C and have my whereabouts noted at the FRO-Foreigner Registration Office. If a foreigner is on a tourist visa of less then 180 days registration is not required at an FRO. This is made very clear in the amendments to the FRA1939.The FRA is only applicable to people running a hotel, guesthouse etc as a business and not to a private residence. That’s the difference in the jurisdiction of the law.

Now my landlord and his family don’t know too much about the law. These particulars would certainly escape them. The older guy from the LIU then proceeded to tell them that it was illegal to rent to foreigners. This is plainly nonsense. There is nothing in the Tenancy Acts that restricts rentals. The only place where there might be a restriction is in an Army Cantonment area and that is subject to Army regulations and not Tenancy Acts and the like.

The big thing is the LIU as police, while affiliated with the FRO are not its agents. They may take registrations at the police station in Dehra Dun for those foreigners on long visas but it it not within their jurisdiction to enforce this without an order from the FRO people and and subsequent legal notice.

I am writing this after the fact. I will update in the next post.