Visa applicant must pursue the regular visa process, with humanitarian circumstances considered expeditiously.

The petitioner, a Ukrainian citizen residing in Auroville, sought a visa for his daughter, Olha Bondar, to visit her 87-year-old grandfather in India, who was receiving medical care for cardiac illness and a fractured femoral neck.

After her e-tourist visa application was rejected on 8 June 2026, the petitioner submitted a representation seeking reconsideration on humanitarian grounds.

The respondents stated that the rejection did not preclude a regular visa application, but that a regular process was required because the daughter had previously overstayed and left India without paying a penalty.

The petitioner offered to pay the penalty and raised difficulties in travelling to Kyiv to apply; the respondents disputed that the Indian mission there was inaccessible, stating it was operating and processing applications.

1. Whether the Court should direct reconsideration of the rejected e-tourist visa application or grant a visa on humanitarian grounds.

2. Whether the daughter should instead be required to apply for a regular visa through the Indian mission in Ukraine, with the application considered expeditiously.

The petition invoked the High Court’s jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to seek a writ of mandamus.

The Court applied no cited statute or precedent.

It proceeded on the respondents’ position that the e-tourist visa rejection did not bar the daughter from applying for a regular visa, and that such an application could be considered through the prescribed process.

The Court declined to interfere because the daughter’s application had not been rejected in toto; she had been directed to apply for a regular visa.

The respondents also disputed the claimed practical difficulty of applying through the Indian mission in Kyiv, asserting that it was functioning and processing visa applications.

In those circumstances, the Court considered the regular-visa process appropriate, while directing that the humanitarian grounds concerning the ailing grandfather be considered in deciding the application.

It directed the petitioner’s daughter to apply for a regular visa through the nearest Indian mission in Ukraine and required the respondents to decide that application as expeditiously as possible, taking account of her stated wish to visit her ailing grandfather.

The writ petition was disposed of with no order as to costs.