JOIN USYouTuber Karl Rock's wife moves Delhi HC challenging Centre's decision blacklisting him
A plea has been moved before the Delhi High Court by wife of New Zealand vlogger, Karl Rock for quashing the order blacklisting her husband from entering the country.
She also sought a direction to further issue an India Visa to her husband, subject to the valid conditions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, has reportedly claimed that the vlogger, was found doing business activities on a tourist visa, which is in violation of the terms and conditions of his visa. He was also found to have posted a video related to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
In her plea, petitioner Manisha Malik, through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, has asked the court to call for records pertaining to cancellation of Visa and unilateral blacklisting of her husband, whose real name is Karl Edward Rice.
Malik, who hailed from Haryana, has called the Centre's decision as "arbitrary and unreasonable". She claimed Karl has not been able to return to India from New Zealand since October 10, 2020.
"The petitioner is an Indian national, and has been with Rice, a national of New Zealand, since 2014 and married him in 2019. Since their marriage, the petitioner and Rice have been living together peacefully in New Delhi. The petitioner and her husband are YouTube vloggers and, therefore, have visited most of India to capture its beauty and thereby, contribute to promotion of tourism in India," the petition said.
The decision to blacklist her husband had violated her fundamental right to life and dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, it claimed.
Karl has a dual nationality - New Zealand and Netherlands and has been visiting India since 2013, strictly abiding by the laws of the country and the conditions of visa. There hasn’t been even a single allegation against the petitioner’s husband, it claimed.
After the marriage, Karl was granted an X-2 Visa (meant for spouse/children of an Indian citizen) with a validity period till May, 2024. One of the conditions in the said Visa was for the petitioner’s husband to exit India every 180 days or to intimate the concerned Foreigner Regional Registration Office, the advocate said.
However, after he left India on October 10, 2020, he has not been able to return to India because of rejection of his application for issuance of an Indian Visa.
"The petitioner has been running from pillar to post and no reasons are communicated to either Rice or to the petitioner herself as to on what basis her husband’s request for issuance of visa has been rejected," her plea claimed.