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Ishrat case: SC allows plea by officer to travel abroad

Last Updated 19 April 2019, 13:22 IST

The Supreme Court has allowed a plea by an IPS officer, once connected to Ishrat Jahan fake encounter probe, to go abroad, saying pendency of departmental proceedings against him cannot come in the way of his fundamental right to travel to foreign countries.

“We were of the opinion that the appellant has a fundamental right to travel and that right cannot be infringed on the ground that vigilance clearance has not been given,” a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and M R Shah said.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma, contended that the appellant intended to go to USA and France between the period April 28 and June 1 to visit his family members who are residing over there.

Verma challenged the orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal as well as the Madras High Court, declining his request.

The top court cited the landmark case of 'Maneka Gandhi Vs Union of India' (1978) which stated that the right to travel abroad is an important basic human right, for it nourishes independent and self-determining creative character of the individual, not only by extending his freedoms of action, but also by extending the scope of his experience.

The right also extends to private life; marriage, family and friendship are humanities which can be rarely affected through refusal of freedom to go abroad and clearly show that this freedom is a genuine human right, the court had then stated.

“We are of the opinion that there is no reason for the government of India to refuse permission to the appellant to travel abroad,” the bench said, adding pendency of departmental proceedings cannot be a ground to prevent the appellant from travelling abroad.

The court also noted Verma had earlier in 2017 was granted permission to travel abroad and he promptly came back.

It allowed his plea on furnishing an undertaking that he will come back on June 1, 2019.

Verma, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer of 1986 batch, is currently working as Inspector General of Police/Principal, Central Training College, Central Reserve Police Force, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

As Ishrat case probe officer, Verma had reportedly filed an affidavit in the Gujarat High Court in 2011 that the 19-year-old Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter in June 2004 along with three men believed to be linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

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(Published 19 April 2019, 12:48 IST)

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