Rahul Gandhi gets NOC from court to get passport for 3 years

Gandhi had moved the court after he surrendered his diplomatic passport upon his disqualification as an MP

A Delhi court on Friday granted no objection certificate to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the issuance of a fresh passport after his diplomatic passport had to be surrendered upon the loss of his Lok Sabha membership following conviction in a defamation case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta, however, said this no objection certificate would be valid for three years only as against his request for 10 years.

The court, which earlier sought a written response from Swamy to Rahul's plea for grant of the ordinary passport, did not agree to his contention that if Rahul is allowed to travel abroad, it may hamper the probe in the National Herald case.

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Rahul had on Tuesday approached the Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court for issuance of a new passport.

In his plea, he stated that when he was granted bail in the National Herald case in 2015, no travel restrictions were imposed on him.

But, since he is no more a Member of Parliament following his conviction and sentence in a 2019 criminal defamation case by a Gujarat court, he had to surrender his diplomatic passport.

He sought issuance of a new passport.

Rahul sought a normal passport as he is slated to travel to the US next month. He is scheduled to address the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden and interact with students at Stanford University.