Rajasthan High Court authorized the application filed by a woman accused in a cheating case, seeking permission to recover her passport and return to Canada to complete her studies and also to prevent the revocation of her daughter’s Canadian citizenship for staying in another country for more than 180 days.

The bench of Judge Farjand Ali was hearing the petition against the order of the Judicial Magistrate which had rejected the petitioner’s application seeking permission to travel abroad and issuance of her passport.

The petitioner was continuing her studies in Canada where she also gave birth to a baby girl. Following the tragic death of her husband in a car accident, she returned to her in-laws in India where she was mistreated. She filed an FIR against the in-laws and to counter this, her deceased husband’s relatives filed a case against her under Section 420 of the IPC.

Due to the FIR, her passport was canceled and she was unable to return to Canada to complete her studies. She filed an application seeking permission to return to Canada to complete her studies and also to prevent the revocation of her daughter’s Canadian citizenship on the grounds that she was staying in another country for more than 180 days. However, this request was rejected. An application was therefore filed before the Court.

The applicant’s lawyer argued that she had not been convicted but that the case was under investigation. Besides, she owned real estate in India and there was no chance of her running away.

On the contrary, the prosecution argued that if the applicant was granted permission to travel abroad, this would hamper the investigation of the case and make it difficult to apprehend her if necessary.

After hearing both parties, the Court found that the applicant had not been convicted of the alleged crime and that the investigation was still ongoing. Therefore, at this stage, it would not be justified to refuse him permission to continue his studies since his future prospects depend on it. The Court also took into account that her daughter’s failure to return to Canada on time could result in the revocation of her daughter’s Canadian citizenship.

In this context, the Court considered that the arrest presented by the Attorney General could be resolved by imposing appropriate conditions on the applicant. Accordingly, the Court allowed the petition on the condition that both the parents of the petitioner shall separately undertake that the petitioner will return to India after 6 months and if she fails to do so, both of them will be required to deposit Rs. lakhs each.

Accordingly, the motion was granted.

Title: Jasvindra Kaur vs State of Rajasthan

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 343

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