Originally Posted by
staycalmandcarryon
Hi,
Scenario:
British citizen with British passport with a PIO card is arrested in India, say for example, mistaken identitiy, just for the sake of argument (purely hypothetical scenario to highlight difference in PIO and OCI)
Question: Could somebody please help in explaining if the person in this scenario with PIO card will be immune from Indian law and get protection from British Consulate in India?
How would this change if the person above was travelling with an OCI card?
Thanking you for your comments and thoughts. All comments with strong evidence will be much appreciated.
Even on a tourist visa in India, you'd be subject to Indian Law. The only person(s) immune from the local law will be declared diplomats, who remain immune while diplomatic immunity granted to them by the host nation stays in place.
There's no "protection" afforded from the British consulate/high commission as such beyond ensuring that you are granted due and proper process.
GoI seems to think that an OCI (whilst in India on what is essentially a visa, and requires your foreign passport to enter the country); is to be treated as a citizen of India in matters of the law, and as such, diplomatic assistance is not available. UK, US and other countries seem to disagree.
That is one amongst a couple other reasons why I'm happy forking out money for a 5 year "entry visa" than pay the same amount once and get a lifelong visa for India, mistakenly termed as an overseas "citizenship" of India.