Delhi court asks CBI response after Amnesty's Aakar Patel says stopped at airport from going to US

A Delhi Court on Wednesday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a plea filed by former Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel [Aakar Patel v. CBI]..Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar briefly heard Patel counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir, who sought suspension of a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against his client.The Court orally remarked that public servants had to justify their actions and not as per one’s “whims and fancies”.In a Tweet on Wednesday, Patel said,"Stopped from leaving india at Bangalore airport. am on the exit control list. Got passport back through court order specifically for this trip to the US (sic).".Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir representing Patel told the Court that he was not informed about the LOC until today. It was submitted that Patel is currently being prosecuted by a Sessions Court in Gujarat on a complaint by a BJP lawmaker, Purneshbhai Ishwabhai Modi. However, he had applied to the judge for sanction to travel abroad and the same was allowed with the Court directing on February 19 that his passport be returned."Investigation qua me is complete. If cognisance is taken whether I am to be summoned and court issues a summoning order... You didn't bother to inform me that you have a LOC against me," Mir told the Court.Patel in his plea stated that he was invited by a number of institutions in the US to deliver lectures. He also claimed that his passport had been released to him in another case in Gujarat.The plea stated that he was named in the FIR in a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) case by the CBI and he was summoned and joined investigation in December, 2020.Patel, according to his plea, was stopped from boarding a British Airways flight, scheduled to depart at around 6.50 am on Wednesday. He was told about a LOC being issued against him by the CBI, specifically the investigating officer..“The applicant suffered the value of his tickets and his immediate program as well on account of the arbitrary and absolute illegal actions on part of the investigating authorities,” added Patel’s plea.Mir argued that there were precedents of the higher courts dealing with people’s right to travel abroad and the action of the CBI was in violation of those. He also informed the Court that a chargesheet had been filed in the case and Patel was no longer required for the investigation..The CBI has been directed to respond to the contentions on Thursday..[Read Order]