Criminal Courts Cannot Impose Condition For Surrender Of Passport While Granting Bail: Punjab & Haryana HC [Read Order]

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that while granting bail, criminal courts cannot place the condition for the accused to surrender their passport. Justice Daya Chaudhary asserted that while Section 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the court to impound any document or thing produced before it, the impounding of a passport can only be undertaken by the passport authority under Section 10 of the Passports Act. No doubt, Section 104 Criminal Procedure Code states that the Court may, if it thinks fit, impound any document or thing produced before it but this provision will only enable the Court to impound any document or thing other than a passport as impounding a “passport” is provided for in Section 10 of the Passports Act. Hence, impounding of a passport cannot be done by the Court under Section 104 Criminal Procedure Code though it can impound any other document or thing.” Justice Chaudhary added that even if the police seeks to retain the passport of a suspected offender, an application has to be made to the Passports authority, which may then allow its impoundment after hearing the defence of the passport-holder. It then asserted that while Section 437 of the CrPC did give the concerned court discretionary powers to impose any condition necessary for granting bail, it did not mean that courts have general powers to impound passports, particularly in view of the special law contained in the Passports Act.