India, Oct. 28 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) does not impose a blanket prohibition on granting bail to foreign nationals accused under the anti-terror law, clarifying that the statutory bar applies only when a foreigner has entered India unauthorisedly or illegally, and not merely because their subsequent stay in the country becomes unlawful.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi held that the prosecution must prima facie establish that an accused is not an Indian citizen and that their initial entry into India was unauthorised or illegal to trigger the stringent restriction under Section 43D(7) of the UAPA. A foreign national who entered India legally on a val...