Pending criminal case is no ground to withhold passports: HC
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has faulted officials from the passport department for retaining the passport of a person on the grounds of pending criminal case.
When the accused person is cooperating with the investigation or trial in the court, the authorities cannot stop renewal or reissue of passport on the grounds of pending criminal case, the court maintained.
The High Court said that the Supreme Court had set a precedent in ‘Vangala Kasturi Rangacharyulu v. Central Bureau of Investigation’, and stated that mere pendency of criminal case cannot be a ground to decline renewal or reissue of a passport.
Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya was dealing with a petition filed by Namireddy Purnachander Reddy complaining against the passport authorities in Hyderabad for retaining his passport on the grounds of a pending case.
The court directed the authorities to renew and handover the passport of the petitioner within two weeks without raising objection relating to pendency of criminal proceedings. However, the court directed the petitioner to submit an undertaking along with an affidavit before the trial court where his criminal case is pending, stating that the petitioner would not leave India during the pendency of the case.
Based on the affidavit, the trial court shall issue a certified copy of the undertaking and an affidavit within two weeks from the date of filing of the undertaking and the petitioner shall submit the certified copy of the aforesaid undertaking along with the reply/explanation before the concerned passport officer for consideration of his application for release of passport. If the petitioner wants to travel outside India, he has to take permission of the trial court.
