New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday, April 16 upheld an order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw the lookout circular (LOC) against author and former head of Amnesty International India Aakar Patel.
This means that Patel, a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government, who was earlier stopped from leaving the country, can now travel abroad.
However, he cannot leave the country without the magisterial court’s permission.
According to Hindustan Times, the court said that “the manner in which the LOC has been issued… shows lack of understanding of relevant law” and suggested the CBI and its officers need “orientation… not only for sensitisation but to bring objectivity to their actions”.
Special judge Santosh Snehi Mann set aside the direction issued to the CBI director to make a written apology to Patel for the agency’s action against him.
“In the present case, on account of wrongly issued LOC, Patel was stopped at the airport and he could not take the scheduled flight. So observation of the ACMM [additional chief metropolitan magistrate] about right of the accused to file claim for compensation is not out of context,” the court order said, as per the report.
“LOC issued against Patel is bad in law, hence cannot sustain. Order of trial court quashing the LOC does not suffer from any infirmity and is a well reasoned order based on principle of law,” the judge said.
The judge said that the CBI’s apprehension that Patel might not appear before the court for the trial, which the agency cited as grounds to issue the LOC, did not fall in the situation and circumstances required for issuing the LOC as per law.
She further observed that on account of the “wrongly issued” circular, Patel was stopped at the airport and he could not take the scheduled flight. “So, observation of the trial court about the right of the respondent to file a claim for compensation is not out of context,” the order said.
She further said that the metropolitan magistrate’s observation that the manner in which the LOC was issued by the CBI shows “lack of understanding of relevant law, and hence need for orientation of the officers concerned of the CBI, not only for the sensitisation but also to bring objectivity in the actions” was not out of context either.
The judge said that the trial court’s observations were “out of concern” and that the CBI needed to take them in the right spirit.
She, however, said the LOC was issued on a “wrong interpretation” of the law and not out of any malice or ill will, “hence, it is not a fit case to call for fixing the accountability of issuance of the lookout circular”.
The judge set aside the trial court’s directions to the CBI director to give a written apology to Patel to compensate the “mental harassment” caused to him, saying that for the matter at hand, “there was no scope to venture into the scope of mental harassment”.
“Therefore, the direction of the trial court to the CBI director to give a written apology to Patel, acknowledging the lapse on the part of his subordinate, to compensate for mental harassment, cannot sustain and is liable to be set aside,” the judge said.
A magisterial court had on April 7 directed the probe agency to withdraw the LOC immediately and issue a written apology to Patel, and file a compliance report by April 30.
Patel had approached the magisterial court submitting that he was stopped by immigration authorities at the Bangalore International Airport while boarding a flight to the US.
He had claimed that the action was taken despite an order by a Gujarat court granting him permission to travel abroad.
(With PTI inputs)
Note: This article was updated with additional information after publication.