The Bombay High Court recently directed the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence’s (DRI) to return the passport of a bail applicant travel prerequisites, noting that the continued retention of a passport amounts to indirect impounding.
The decision was given by the Bombay High Court while adjudicating a Criminal Application filed by the Applicant, Manish Gulabchand Birawat who sought deletion of a bail condition imposed on him by a 2021 order. The 2021 bail order prevented the Applicant from leaving India without prior permission of the Court, and permitted the DRI to retain the Applicant’s passport until further orders.
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Sujay Kantawala, Anupam Dighe, Chandni Tanna and Renita Alex, instructed by India Law Alliance challenged the impugned bail condition by producing before the Court an order passed in a similar Criminal Bail Application.
Though an affidavit of service of notice was filed by Dinesh J. Haldankar, counsel for the Respondent State of Maharashtra, none were in attendance while the Court was in session.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Milind N. Jadhav noted that there is no requirement to adjourn the hearing to appreciate the contentions of the DRI since the DRI had already filed their affidavit in the similar Criminal Bail Application adduced by the Applicant and that their objections had already been duly considered by the Court.
The court noted that Section 10(3)(e) of the Passports Act, 1967, provides that the Passport Authority has the power to impound a passport, but such an action must follow the prescribed procedures under the Act. Additionally, Section 10-A allows the government to retain a passport for a limited period of four weeks, after which further retention requires an order from the Passport Authority.
The Bombay High Court reasoned that requiring the Applicant to repeatedly deposit and retrieve his passport would be onerous and that the continued retention of the passport would indirectly amount to impounding of the passport.
Consequently, Justice Jadhav directed the return of the passport to the Applicant in a week;s time while directing that if the Applicant wishes to travel abroad, he shall furnish comprehensive details of travel itinerary, purpose and return to the DRI within one week of travel to and fro.
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