The Delhi High Court has said that permission to travel abroad cannot be denied based on the mere suspicion that an accused might not return to India.
'Coercive Measure': Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, on 9 February, while permitting the accused -- Sandeep Singh Deswal -- to travel to the United States, added that a lookout circular is a 'coercive measure' and cannot be issued in a routine manner “as it may affect the liberty of an accused.”
Note: The government issues an LOC to make sure an individual who is absconding or wanted by law enforcement agencies in connection with a case, is not able to leave the country, according to chapter 25 of the Crime Manual of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The judge suspended the lookout circular (LOC) issued against Deswal and said:
“Mere suspicion of accused not returning to India after his travels when the accused has travelled abroad on numerous occasions and has never misused the liberty granted to travel abroad on earlier occasions, in my view, cannot be accepted as the basis for rejecting the present application,” it said.