Now Reading: Madras High Court: No passport curbs just for pending DV case
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Madras High Court: No passport curbs just for pending DV case
The Madras High Court has ruled that a spouse cannot be denied the right to travel abroad merely because a domestic violence case is pending. Justice V Lakshminarayan set aside a Passport…
The Madras High Court has ruled that a spouse cannot be denied the right to travel abroad merely because a domestic violence case is pending. Justice V Lakshminarayan set aside a Passport Office order that asked a husband to surrender his passport due to DV proceedings filed by his wife.
The court held that proceedings under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 remain civil in nature until an order under Section 31, which penalises breach of a protection order with up to one year in jail or a Rs 20,000 fine, is passed. Since the present case had not reached that stage, it was not a criminal proceeding, and the passport restriction was unjustified.
The husband had argued that the pending DV case was treated as criminal by the passport authorities, jeopardising his plans for a Post Doctoral Fellowship abroad. The court agreed and quashed the surrender order.
Indian Opinion Analysis
This ruling clarifies a procedural gap often exploited by passport authorities: the reflex to treat any pending DV complaint as a criminal proceeding. Under the DV Act, a magistrate can pass civil orders like maintenance or residence long before any criminal breach occurs. The distinction matters because passport impoundment rules under the Passports Act, 1967 hinge on criminal proceedings. With family courts across India seeing rising DV filings, over 2.2 lakh cases were pending in trial courts as of 2023, per NCRB data, the decision offers a template for litigants to challenge blanket passport freezes. The key test now is whether the Centre will issue a circular to Passport Offices mirroring this position, or leave it to case-by-case litigation.
Source: livelaw.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
