Past Criminal Record Resulting In Acquittal Is Not A Ground To Deny Re-Issuance Of Passport: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court issued a mandamus directing the first respondent to reissue the petitioner's passport. The petitioner had applied for passport renewal in 2019, which was initially denied due to a pending criminal case. However, the Court noted that the said criminal case had ended in acquittal. This writ petition was filed to obtain a mandamus directing the first respondent to reissue the petitioner's passport, considering their application was within the court's specified time frame.
A Bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh held that, “In view of the above development, there must be no difficulty for the first respondent to consider the application of the petitioner seeking for re-issuance of passport, since the only ground that was put against the petitioner was the pending criminal case.”
Advocate L. Shaji Chellan appeared for the Petitioner and Advocate S.Ponkarthikeyan appeared for the Respondents.
The petitioner held a passport since 2003, which expired in 2017. Upon applying for renewal, the first respondent asked for clarification due to a pending criminal case by the second respondent Police. The passport renewal was denied based on this ground.
The Court noted that the criminal case against the petitioner ended in acquittal. The court said, “When the matter was taken up for hearing today, learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side) appearing on behalf of the second respondent submitted that the criminal case ended in acquittal in S.T.C.No.1018 of 2019 by Judgment, dated 13.09.2023.”
Considering the acquittal, the Court directed the first respondent to process the petitioner's passport reissuance application without any hindrance related to the previously pending criminal case. The first respondent was ordered to process the petitioner's application and issue the passport, provided the petitioner fulfills all other requirements. This directive had to be executed within four weeks from the date of receiving the court's order.
The writ petition was disposed of with the mentioned direction.
Cause Title: S. Yoosuf v. The Regional Passport Officer & Anr.
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