Delhi HC allows journalist Rana Ayyub to travel abroad with conditions
New Delhi, April 4: The Delhi High Court (HC) on Monday allowed Journalist Rana Ayyub to travel abroad with conditions. The court has asked her to deposit a certain amount and share the itinerary with a contact number to the probe agency.
Journalist Rana Ayyub had moved to the Delhi HC last week, challenging Enforcement Directorate's (ED) decision to bar her from flying abroad. The Bench of Justice CD Singh while lifting the ban on travel restrictions on Monday also observed that she is not accused of siphoning money of thousands of crores.
ASG SV Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), stated that we apprehend that she may go out and not come back. "Our case is not going further. Money siphoned off in the name of Covid relief. Credit card details etc not provided," he added.
Rana Ayyub's lawyer Vrinda Grover called it a clear case of harassment, adding that Ayub had fair reasons to come back to India as her family resided here. "Why was Ayub not summoned earlier", she raised questions over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation.
While opposing the journalist Rana Ayyub's appeal for quashing the Lookout Circular (LoC) and challenging the ED's order to ban her from travelling, the Enforcement Directorate said charges of money laundering are serious in nature on the last date of hearing.
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According to the ED, she received the funds in dollars and Indian rupees for charitable purposes and to assist the needy and migrants during the Covid period. The money for relief work has been skimmed off, and she has submitted forged bills, according to the ED lawyer.
The plea stated that the petitioner arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on March 29, 2022, to board an Air India flight to London, Heathrow, scheduled to depart at 14:25 hours, to attend events about the global problem of cyber attacks on women journalists, as well as to deliver a keynote speech on the status of journalism in India.
However, at around noon, the petitioner was detained in a room adjacent to the immigration counter and was informed that the immigration officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs had sought clarifications regarding some "remark" on the petitioner's file.
Over the next hour, the petitioner was informed that MHA officers had received instructions from the Enforcement Directorate not to allow her to board her flight to London, and the immigration stamp on her passport had been stamped as "Cancelled," according to the plea.
The Petitioner journalist claims that the Respondents' actions have harassed, humiliated, and insulted her and that the organisers of journalist events in London and Italy have also suffered losses and experienced grave inconvenience and disturbance as a result of the Petitioner's arbitrary detention at the airport on March 29, 2022.
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The petitioner's work demands her to travel around the world frequently, and any restrictions on her ability to do so are a direct violation of her right to free speech and expression, as well as her right to practise her profession as a member of the global and national media fraternity, according to the plea.
The journalist further sought directions from the court to enable her to travel out of India and to quash the lookout circular issued against her.
-PTC News
