New Zealand: Couple Deported to India after changing name under cover of criminal offenses

New Zealand: Soham Sharma and Medha Batta, a couple who later changed their name and settled in New Zealand, have been deported to India for concealing criminal offenses abroad. Soham Sharma and his wife Medha Batta have been ordered to leave New Zealand after it was revealed that Sharma had been jailed in the UK under another name. He was found to have committed sexual assault under another name abroad.

Soham Sharma was convicted of sexual misconduct while in the UK and then jailed for 18 months. When he was released, he was deported to India. Soham Sharma and Medha Batta met and started dating in the UK in 2011, but separated when Sharma moved to Scotland in 2012. While in Scotland, Sharma was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexual misconduct under his birth name Sanjeev Kumar. Upon his release, Sharma was deported to India, where he and Batta reunited, married in 2014 and changed their name to Soham before their marriage. In 2015, the two moved to New Zealand and later settled in Hamilton. Medha Batta arrived in New Zealand on a student visa and Sharma on a visitor visa. In 2017, they were granted residency by New Zealand immigration.

Soham Sharma and Medha Batta were caught by immigration in 2018 when they tried to re-enter New Zealand after visiting their family in India. Immigration then launched an investigation against them and issued them deportation notice. Batta did not know her husband's former name, sentencing or imprisonment, and Sharma did not disclose these details to INZ. In 2015, British immigration authorities provided INZ with information about the convictions of Sharma named Sanjeev Kumar. When Sharma and Batta tried to re-enter New Zealand after visiting their family in India in 2018, they found that Sharma's fingerprints matched Sanjeev Kumar's fingerprints. INZ launched an investigation against the couple and issued them deportation notice. Soham Sharma was jailed in the UK for 18 months, Sharma was convicted of possessing a false textile driving permit and sexually assaulting three women passengers in the UK, as disqualifying him from entering New Zealand under immigration law. Immigration law states that people who have been imprisoned for 12 months or more in the last 10 years are not eligible to enter New Zealand or obtain a visa.

Sharma said Bata had no role in his betrayal and wanted to stay in New Zealand for himself and his son born in 2019. He said he did not know where his family would live if they were sent back to India due to problems with his family. "He does not want to think about the possibility of returning to India as a failure again. He does not know where he is going in India or how to support his family there. " Batta, who first wanted to separate from Sharma after learning about her husband's past in court, wanted to raise the couple's child alone in New Zealand if necessary. She was a skilled immigrant studying for a law degree after completing a diploma in psychology. If Sharma is deported without her, she will have to stop studying and find a job to support herself. When she returned to India, she was expecting "major" problems within her family. "Her father does not know the truth yet. If it comes out, her mother will have problems." Also, dual citizenship is not permissible under Indian law and as their son is a New Zealand citizen, he will not receive the highest level of education and health care available in New Zealand. However, the tribunal found that neither Sharma nor Bata had extraordinary circumstances and dismissed their appeals.

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