The Supreme Court has ruled that the restriction on bail for foreign nationals under Section 43D(7) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) applies only when the accused's entry into India was itself unauthorised or illegal, Live Law reported. A foreigner who entered on a valid visa and later overstayed does not fall within the provision, the court held.
Source: Live Law
A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi dismissed the Union of India's appeal and upheld a Madras High Court order restoring the bail of Mohamed Rifas, described in the case as a Sri Lankan national accused in an NIA-investigated UAPA case, Verdictum reported. The judgment is cited as Union of India v. Mohamed Rifas @ Mohamed Rigbas, 2026 INSC 1160.
Source: Verdictum
Reading the provision, the court said three ingredients must co-exist: the person must be accused under the Act, must not be an Indian citizen, and must have entered the country unauthorisedly or illegally at the time of entry. A stay that becomes illegal later, such as after a visa lapses, does not retroactively convert a lawful entry into an unauthorised one, the court observed, according to Live Law.
The court also held that Section 43D(7) does not bar statutory (default) bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and that it found no material, beyond an intelligence report, to establish that Rifas had entered India illegally, Law Trend reported.
Source: Law Trend
Allegations in the case — labelled as allegations
The allegations against Rifas, as recorded in the case, are that he was named in FIR No. 46/2018 registered at Keelakarai in Tamil Nadu under Sections 153A and 120B of the IPC, Sections 15, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the UAPA and the Arms Act, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to disrupt communal harmony and wage an armed struggle against the government. These are allegations in an ongoing case, not findings of guilt.
According to the case record summarised by Live Law, a sessions court at Ramanathapuram granted Rifas default bail on 5 July 2018 because the chargesheet had not been filed within the statutory period. The NIA took over the investigation in January 2019. The Union later sought cancellation of bail, the NIA Special Court at Chennai cancelled it on 5 July 2022, and the Madras High Court set that cancellation aside on 12 December 2023 — the order the Supreme Court has now upheld.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the Union of India and advocate A. Velan appeared for the respondent, according to the case reports.