Woman in Canada moves HC for police clearance

Woman in Canada moves HC for police clearance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:21.10.2021

The Gujarat high court sought a response from the Indian embassy in Toronto, Canada, over a petition filed by a woman who is seeking permanent residence there, but her citizenship process had been stalled because of the lack of a clearance certificate.

Mansa police in Gandhinagar district was not issuing the necessary certificate because the woman’s husband and in-laws objected to her request. After she filed a petition in the high court in August, the cops issued the police verification certificate. For the process of the clearance certificate, the high court impleaded the embassy in Toronto and sought a reply from it. This is because she filed her application with the embassy in Toronto.

The case involves one Palak Patel from Mansa, who went to Canada in 2016 on a work visa. She did not return to India since and applied for permanent residence there. When the process was initiated and the immigration authorities sought a clearance certificate from local police, Patel’s husband and in-laws objected to the process and the cops did not issue a certificate. The inaction on the part of the police at the behest of Patel’s in-laws stalled the process. This brought her to the high court, said her advocate Nilay Patel.

The high court inquired with the authorities about the police verification certificate not being issued, particularly when there was no offence registered against the woman and the cops immediately issued the certificate. The question of the clearance certificate was put before the passport authority and the court was informed that the passport authority can only function as a postman in this case, as it has no role to play with the person already residing in Canada and applying to the authorities in Toronto. The high court made the embassy a party respondent and posted a further hearing in this case for October 22.