Surrender of a passport pursuant to bail conditions does not permanently bar its renewal.

The petitioner sought relief under Section 482 CrPC against the order dated 06.11.2025 passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Barnala, refusing permission to renew his passport and travel abroad during the pendency of FIR No. 20 dated 24.02.2022, registered at Police Station Barnala under Sections 406, 409, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 201 and 120-B IPC.

The petitioner had been granted regular bail by the High Court on 01.02.2023, pursuant to which he surrendered his passport in compliance with the bail conditions. During the pendency of the criminal proceedings, the passport expired. He sought its return and renewal to enable him to visit family members residing in Australia, while submitting that he did not seek alteration of the bail conditions.

The State opposed the petition on the ground that the passport had been voluntarily surrendered under the bail order and that no exceptional circumstance justified relaxation of the conditions.

Whether the petitioner could be permitted to obtain return of his expired passport for the limited purpose of applying for its renewal despite having surrendered it under the conditions of bail?

Whether the petitioner’s right to possess a passport and travel abroad, subject to reasonable legal and judicial restrictions, warranted the limited relief sought?

The Court exercised its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC to examine the legality of the order refusing passport renewal.

It applied the constitutional principle that the right to possess a passport and travel abroad forms part of the personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by law and by orders of a competent court.

The Court further held that surrender of a passport pursuant to a bail condition does not, by itself, create a permanent bar against renewal, particularly where the accused does not seek to evade the criminal proceedings or dilute the existing bail conditions.

The petitioner’s passport had initially been surrendered in compliance with a judicially imposed bail condition, but its subsequent expiry created a distinct need to obtain a renewed passport.

The Court found that merely returning the expired passport for presentation before the Regional Passport Office would not amount to relaxing or nullifying the bail conditions.

Since the petitioner sought only renewal and undertook to deposit the newly issued passport before the Trial Court, the Court considered that the constitutional protection of personal liberty could be balanced with the State’s concerns through appropriate safeguards.

The Court therefore treated passport renewal as permissible while leaving the petitioner’s renewed passport and any travel subject to the existing orders and conditions governing his bail.

The Trial Court was directed to return the petitioner’s expired passport solely for production before the concerned Regional Passport Office and for applying for renewal.

After issuance of the renewed passport, the petitioner was directed to deposit it forthwith before the Trial Court, where it would remain subject to the applicable orders and bail conditions during the pendency of the criminal proceedings.

All pending miscellaneous applications were disposed of as infructuous.