Foreigner - Definition - Amendment, Effect of - Offence committed by foreigner after amendment - Onus of proof - Foreigners Act, 1946 (31 of 1946), s. 1, 74 - The Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 1957 (11 of 1957), s. 2(a) - Constitution of India, Art. 5.

The appellant entered India on May 9, 1956, on a Pakistani passport. He had a visa permitting him to stay in India for three months, and he was required to leave India on or before August 8, 1956. As he failed to do so, a notice under s. 3 (2) of the Foreigners Act, 1946, as amended in 1957, was served on him on November 19, 1959, by the Delhi Administration. As he did not comply with the requirements of the notice, he was prosecuted under s. 14 of the Foreigners Act and convicted. His appeal and revision were dismissed. He came to this Court by special leave. His contention was that he was not a foreigner within the meaning of the definition of a foreigner as it existed at the time he entered India, and he was not a foreigner even under the amended definition.