Janmejai Tiwari vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Sharad Kumar Sharma, J

In the present C482 Application, the present applicant, who is one of the co-accused persons, under trial of Criminal Case No. 63 of 2016, State Vs.

P.C. Tewari & Ors, is being tried for the offences under Sections 147, 148, 427, 435, 447, 504, 506 IPC, which has been registered at Patwari area

Deda, District Almora, and the trial of the said Criminal Case after submission of chargesheet and the cognizance being taken is pending consideration

before the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Ranikhet, Almora.

The grievance of the applicant as agitated in the present C482 Application is, as against the impugned order dated 16.08.2021, which has been

passed by the Judicial Magistrate, Dwarahat, District Almora, by virtue of which the applicant’s application Paper No. 74(kha), which he has

preferred for the purposes of grant of an NOC, to enable the applicant to travel abroad i.e. Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, in order to enable

him, to participate in a conference which is scheduled to be held w.e.f. 31st October, 2021 till 7th November, 2021 the meeting session of COP-26.

The application thus preferred by the applicant being paper No. 74 kha, has been rejected by the learned Judicial Magistrate, on the ground, that as

a consequence of the revival of the physical proceedings of the Courts in pursuance to the administrative directions issued by the High Court on

02.07.2021, since the trial has commenced and the trial is pending consideration, hence, the presence of the accused person is required for the

purposes of formulation of charge.

The learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that as per the Notification, which had been issued by the Ministry of External Affairs on

25.08.1993, being GSR 570E, which was issued in exercise of the powers under sub Clause (a) of Section 22 of the Passport Act, 1967. It stipulates

certain terms and conditions, under which an under trial i.e. the applicant is required to travel abroad, to meet up certain contingencies or for any other

programme, as in the instant case, he is supposed to get a prior NOC from the Court where the trial is pending consideration and there are certain

stipulations, which are self contained in the said GSR dated 25.08.1993.

The learned counsel for the applicant contends that earlier too, if the conduct of the applicant is taken into consideration, he was issued with an

NOC for the purposes of participating in the earlier conference for e.g. the 5th Asia Young Leaders for Democracy Programme held in Taipei,

Tiwan, and after participating in the same, he has duly and diligently thereafter cooperated in the investigation and later on, in the proceedings of the

trial also after the submission of the charge sheet he had been consistently participating in the trial.

The learned counsel for the applicant submits that the logic, which has been assigned by the learned Judicial Magistrate, while rejecting the

application of the applicant being Paper No. 74(kha), for the grant of NOC to travel abroad as per GSR 570E, merely on the pretext that the High

Court has issued an administrative circular dated 02.07.2021, that in itself will not create an embargo in non exercising of powers which are

contemplated under the aforesaid GSR 570E dated 25.08.1993, which has been issued under the central legislation, contained under Section 22 of the

Passport Act, 1967.

Thus this Court is not satisfied with the reasons which has been assigned in the impugned order, but, however in order to ensure that the applicant

actively participates in the trial of the Criminal Case No. 63 of 2016, which is pending against him, for consideration before the Judicial Magistrate,

Dwarahat, district Almora, the applicant’s application being Paper No. 74(kha) for the grant of NOC under the aforesaid GSR is allowed. The

applicant is granted NOC in order to enable him to travel abroad to participate in the conference, the details of which has been provided by him in

annexure-4 to the present C482 Application. But, however, the grant of permission or NOC to the applicant to enable him to travel abroad under the

said GSR 570E dated 25.08.1993, as referred to above would be subject to the following conditions:-

(i) Quite obviously, the travel of the applicant to abroad would be subject to the condition of renewal of his passport in accordance with the provisions

of the Passport Act, 1967.

(ii) In order to ensure the return of the applicant and his participation in the aforesaid Criminal Case, which is pending trial before the Judicial

Magistrate, Dwarahat, district Almora, the applicant is directed to furnish a security of Rs. 2. Lakh, other than the Cash in Bank, before the

Magistrate concerned and it is only on the furnishing of the security, his NOC, which has been granted by this Court, would take its effect.

Subsequent to the delivery of the judgment, the learned counsel for the applicant had submitted that in accordance with the guidelines, as it has been

framed by the Government of Scotland, any person travelling to their country would have to undergo a mandatory quarantine period, as it has been

provided in the guidelines which has been published on 30.04.2021 by the Government of Scotland which is extracted hereunder:-

“Green list countries and areas

Before travelling to Scotland from a green list country or area, you must:

complete a passenger locator form

take a COVID-19 test before you travel to Scotland

book and pay £68 for a COVID-19 PCR test â€" you should take this test within 2 days of arriving in Scotland

You will not need to isolate unless:

the result of the COVID-19 test you’ve taken on day 2 after arriving back in Scotland is positive

NHS Scotland Test and Protect contact you to let you know that you need to isolate as you’ve travelled with someone who has tested

positive for COVID-19

If you’ve been in a country or area on the red or amber list in the 10 days before arriving in Scotland, you’ll need to follow the rules for

red or amber list countries.â€​

Considering the aforesaid facts, the NOC is granted in favour of the applicant for a period commencing from 17.10.2021 till 14.11.2021.

Subject to the above, the present C482 Application stands disposed of accordingly.