New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) head Mehbooba Mufti has petitioned the high court, asking that the passport she has applied for be issued. According to her petition, the passport has been denied so far because of the lack of police verification.
Her last passport, Mehbooba says, was valid till May 31, 2019. On December 11, 2020, she applied for a new passport.“The Passport as per the instruction manual is expected to be dispatched within approximately 30 days,” her petition says.
The guidelines say that police verification must be done within 21 days. However, despite Mehbooba’s request to the senior superintendent of police, Srinagar, the verification request was not fulfilled and documents not forwarded to the concerned authorities, her petition says. “…administrative delay is a facet of arbitrariness and against the rule of law. Submitting of police verification report cannot be left to the sole discretion of the authority,” she argues.
Mehbooba has said that under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, she as a citizen has the right to hold a passport. “The delay occasioned in issuing the Passport in favour of the Petitioner has an effect of imposing restrictions on the rights of the Petitioner vested upon her by the Constitution of India, which guarantees her freedom to travel abroad. It is essential to state here that right to travel abroad inheres in right to life and liberty as guaranteed under article 21 of the constitution of India.”
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The former chief minister has asked the court to direct the authorities to issue her passport, and respond to her request. She has also asked the court to take action against those who curbed her personal liberty by not responding to her passport request.
Mehbooba was placed under house arrest on August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked J&K’s special status. Her detention lasted for 14 months, and she was finally released in October 2020. However, even since then, the PDP chief says she has been detained on several occasions – most recently when she wanted to meet the family of a young man killed in an encounter. “My residence has been turned into a fortress and I am not being allowed to move in the name of security,” the former chief minister told The Wire then.