Now Hon’ble High of Punjab and Haryana also held that Courts/Police cannot impound anyone’s passport in India. Only Passport Authority can impound/revoke a passport in India.
Capt. Anila Bhatia Vs State of Haryana on 09 October, 2018[related_posts_by_tax title=”5 Recently Updated Posts, Similar or Related To Above Post” orderby=”post_modified” posts_per_page=”5″ show_date=”true”]
Hon’ble Justice J.B.PARDIWALA in this judgment bins the vague and general allegations in the 498A case and quashed the FIR on the accused.
Funny anecdotes:
From Para 3,
It appears that the first informant holds a degree of Bachelor of Engineering.
….
I take notice of a very curious allegation in the First Information Report that the in-laws forced the daughter-in-law to do her post graduation i.e. Master of Engineering. It appears that the first informant did complete her Masters in Engineering.
….
As usual, soon after the marriage, matrimonial problems cropped up between the husband and the wife.
From Para 4,
Kumar Kamalbabu Bhatt & 2 Vs State Of Gujarat & on 22 January, 2016For some reason or the other, the first informant thought fit to take up the issue with the Police and left the matrimonial home on 3rd March, 2013. She thought fit to lodge the FIR on 11th November, 2014.
An earlier judgment from same wise judge, which he quoted in this judgment is here.
Hon’ble Delhi High Court held that, “It is settled law that right to travel is a facet of personal liberty and is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. (See Maneka Gandhi Vs. Union of India & Anr., (1978) 1 SCC 248 and Satwant Singh Sawhney Vs. D. Ramarathnam, Assistant Passport Officer, Government of India, New Delhi & Ors., AIR 1976 SC 1836).”
13. This Court is also of the opinion that if the impugned condition imposed by the
Additional Sessions Judge is not immediately set aside, the petitioner in the near future
could lose her job.
14. Moreover, in the opinion of this Court, petitioner who is having no criminal
antecedents and good academic qualifications is unlikely to abscond.
15. Consequently, present petition is allowed and the condition imposed by the impugned
order dated 06th October, 2012 restraining the petitioner from leaving the boundary of
the NCT of Delhi as well as the NCR and the country without the prior permission of the
Court of Metropolitan Magistrate is set aside.
16. The SHO/Investigating Officer is directed to release the petitioner’s passport forthwith.
Nandini Bhatnagar Vs State Govt. Of NCT Of Delhi on 14 December, 2012
Hon’ble High Court of Madras in this straightforward judgment, set aside the condition to surrender the petitioner’s passport
From Para 3,
The petitioner is aggrieved against the condition made therein whereby he was directed to surrender his passport before the Court and was directed, not to leave the country without prior permission of the Court.
From Para 5,
The legal question as to whether the police are empowered to retain the passport of an accused under the provisions of Cr.P.C., has come time and again before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and various other Courts and it has been held that the Courts exercising its power under the Cr.P.C., cannot impound the passport under the guise of seizure.
From Para 8,
The objections raised by the learned Special Public Prosecutor for CBI Cases may not be of much relevance since what would be pertinent to decide in the present petition is the powers of police to retain the passport of the petitioner. The Passport Act which is a Special law will prevail over the provisions of the Cr.p.c., the General law.
From Para 9,
Kakulamarri Kalyan Srinivasa Rao Vs CBI on 12 May, 2017Section 10(3)(e) of the Passport Act specifically deals with impounding of passport whereas Section 104 Cr.P.C., allows the Court to impound the document to produce before the Court. The Passport Act overrides the provision of Cr.P.C., for the purpose of impounding passport. In the present case in hand, the order directing to surrender the passport indefinitely amounts to impounding of the passport itself.
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