Pending Criminal Trials Cannot Justify Indefinite Denial of Passport: Supreme Court Reaffirms Article 21
Background of the Case The Supreme Court of India has delivered a significant ruling clarifying the scope of personal liberty under the Constitution, holding that pending criminal proceedings cannot be a ground for indefinitely denying the renewal of a passport . The judgment was delivered by a Bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Augustine George Masih , allowing an appeal filed by Mahesh Kumar Agarwal , an accused in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) case related to alleged extortion and terror funding activities in Jharkhand’s coal mining belt. The Court set aside judgments of the Calcutta High Court , which had earlier upheld the refusal of passport renewal by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Kolkata. Factual Matrix Mahesh Kumar Agarwal’s passport expired in August 2023 . At the time: He was facing trial in an NIA case pending before a Special Court in Ranchi. He was also convicted in a CBI coal block allocation case , though his sentence had been suspended by t...