LOC against Rana Ayyub issued in haste; violated right to travel, freedom of speech: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Monday held that the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by Enforcement Directorate (ED) preventing journalist Rana Ayyub from travelling abroad was issued in haste and infringed on her human right to travel abroad and exercise freedom of speech and expression..Justice Chandra Dhari Singh, therefore, set aside the LOC..He said that an LOC is a coercive measure to make a person surrender and therefore it is to be issued in cases where the accused is deliberately evading summons or arrest and when they fail to appear in court despite warrants.“In the instant case, there is no contradiction by the respondent to the submission of the petitioner that she has appeared on each and every date before the Investigating Agency when summoned, and hence, there is no cogent reason for presuming that the Petitioner would not appear before the Investigation Agency and hence, no case is made out for issuing the impugned LOC,” the Court said.It added,“The impugned LOC is accordingly liable to be set aside as being devoid of merits as well as for infringing the Human right of the Petitioner to travel abroad and to exercise her freedom of speech and expression. For the reasons discussed above, the impugned LOC is set aside and quashed.”.In view of the above, the Court allowed Ayyub to travel abroad subject to certain conditions.She was directed to deposit ₹1 lakh before the ED and to intimate the agency about her detailed itinerary. She was also ordered not to tamper with evidence and return to India on April 11.She should give an undertaking before the agency immediately on her return and on dates that might be fixed by ED for interrogation, the Court said..Ayyub was stopped at the Mumbai airport on March 29, following the issuance of a Look Out Circular (LOC) against her.This, after the ED attached her assets worth ₹1.77 crore in connection alleged irregularities in the collection of charitable funds for COVID-19 relief work. The agency said that it had issued summons to her earlier as well, but she did not respond. It did not want her to leave the country, as the probe and the filing of the chargesheet in the case would be delayed, ED had argued.Read more about today's hearing here..[Read Order]