Delhi HC issues notice to Centre over blacklisting YouTuber Karl Rock
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Centre and Foreigner Regional Registration Office, Delhi in a petition filed by Karl Rock's wife Manisha Malik against blacklisting and cancellation of visa of her husband.
Mrs Malik approached Delhi High Court and challenged Centre's decision, calling it "arbitrary and unreasonable".
She has argued in the plea, “The petitioner, by virtue of denial of a visa to her husband, who has been arbitrarily blacklisted by the Respondents, is deprived of living with her husband, thereby violating her fundamental right to life and dignity as guaranteed under Article 21,” The Indian Express reported.
In her petition, she has mentioned how she and her husband are YouTube vloggers who have contributed to the promotion of tourism in India, by having visited most parts of the country "to capture its beauty".
Karl Rock is known for making YouTube travel videos and has around 1.8 million followers.
He has been visiting India since 2013 and has dual nationality of New Zealand and Netherlands, the petition added.
After his marriage with Malik, Rock was granted an X-2 Visa (meant for spouses/children of an Indian citizen) after his marriage, which was valid up to May 2024.
One of the visa conditions for him was to exit India every 180 days or to intimate the Foreigner Regional Registration Office concerned. To comply with this rule, Rock had left for Dubai last year.
Malik said in the petition, “While the petitioner has been running from pillar to post and no reasons are communicated to either Mr Karl Edward Rice or to the petitioner herself as to on what basis her husband’s request for issuance of visa have been rejected, the petitioner’s husband was only verbally informed that he has been blacklisted and therefore he is not permitted to enter into India (sic)," news agency ANI reported.
