Raj Bhojani
New Delhi. The Bombay High Court has said that mere pendency of a criminal case is not sufficient ground to deprive it of the right to renew a passport. In this regard, Justice Amit Borkar’s division bench of Bombay High Court has recently issued an order. A Bench has recently held that the pendency of an offense under Sections 406, 420, 120(b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Section 34, does not entitle an applicant to renew his passport. There is not enough ground to do. The High Court was hearing a petition filed by an applicant against the rejection of renewal of passport for foreign travel.
The applicant had earlier made an application before the Metropolitan Magistrate, 31st Court, Vikhroli, Mumbai, seeking directions to issue an order for renewal of his passport. But this application was rejected by the magistrate. The reasoning for this was that the investigation of the case in which the applicant is an accused has not yet been completed. An accused in that case is absconding and there is a possibility of tampering with the evidence. The court noted that renewal of passport is governed by the provisions of the Passports Act and the Additional Sessions Judge allowed the applicant to travel to the US from July 17, 2017 to August 11, 2019. Further, there is no allegation that the applicant has violated the conditions imposed by the Court while allowing him to travel abroad.
High court orders for passport renewal
The court observed that ‘in the facts of the case only because the offense under sections 406, 420, 120(B) read with 34 of the IPC is pending against the applicant. The above fact in itself is not sufficient to deny the right to the applicant for renewal of passport. The court said that the applicant has immovable property in Mumbai and there is no such document to prove that there can be any risk from it. After this, the High Court quashed the order of the Metropolitan Magistrate of Vikhroli Court. Further, the court directed to examine the eligibility of the applicant under the provisions of the Passports Act and pass orders in accordance with law on the applicant’s application for renewal of passport.
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Tags: bombay high court, Passport
FIRST PUBLISHED : January 20, 2023, 22:44 IST
