In a significant judgement, the Allahabad High Court has said that pendency of appeal against the acquittal of an individual in a criminal case could not be the ground for refusal of passport to him.
A double bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Vikram D Chauhan delivered the verdict on a petition filed by one Pramod Kumar Rajbhar, who had challenged the denial of passport to him on the ground that the state's appeal against his acquittal was pending in a higher court.
The court said that Section 6 of the Passports Act,1967 laid down the provisions under which a passport can be denied to an applicant.
The court observed that the ''case of the petitioner would not fall in any of the category under which the passport could be denied inasmuch as there is already an order of acquittal passed in his favour which has not been reversed in appeal''.
''No order prejudicial to petitioner's interest otherwise has been passed. So long as the order of acquittal remains, the petitioner's innocence would be presumed and, therefore, petitioner's application cannot be declined merely on account of pendency of Government Appeal,'' the court said in its order.
The petitioner had been charged under sections 354-A 9Sexual Harassment), 506 (Criminal Intimidation) and 376 (Sexual Assault) of the IPC. He was however acquitted by the lower court last year.
After being acquitted, the petitioner applied for a passport but his application was withheld only because Government Appeal had been filed in the matter.
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Published 12 December 2021, 11:24 IST