The High Court has observed that a person's application for issuance of a passport cannot be withheld merely on account of the pendency of a Government Appeal against acquittal order.

The Bench further clarified that so long as the order of acquittal (in connection with a criminal case) remains, the petitioner's innocence would be presumed.

The Court was dealing with the plea of one Pramod Kumar Rajbhar, who had applied for a passport but his application was not considered on account of the pendency of the State appeal against the judgment and order passed in Sessions Trial in his favor (acquitting him in a criminal case)

The case in brief

Essentially, in the year 2014, criminal proceedings were initiated against the petitioner/Rajbhar under Sections 354-A, 506, and 376 I.P.C. and Section 3/4 of the POCSO Act, which had ultimately led to the petitioner's acquittal by the competent Sessions Court in December 2020.

However, when he filed an application for issuance of the passport, the same was withheld only because Government Appeal had been filed in the matter, i.e., against this acquittal.

In view of this, the Court, at the outset, referred to Section 6 of the Passports Act,1967, which lays down the considerations for which a passport can be denied to an applicant and after perusing the same, observed thus:

"The case of the petitioner would not fall in any of the category inasmuch as there is already an order of acquittal passed in his favour which has not been reversed in appeal. No order prejudicial to petitioner's interest otherwise has been passed. So long as the order of acquittal remains, the petitioner's innocence would be presumed and, therefore, petitioner's application cannot be declined merely on account of pendency of Government Appeal."

Against this backdrop, the Court disposed of the plea with a direction upon respondent no. 3 to process petitioner's application for grant of passport in light of the Court's observations, within a period of three months.