LI Network
Published on: 04th May, 2025 14:43 IST
The Allahabad High Court has held that an accused released on bail does not possess an inherent right to seek permission to travel abroad for non-essential reasons such as attending a family wedding or undertaking a leisure trip.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow Bench dismissed a plea by Aditya Murti, a consultant at the Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences in Bareilly. Murti had sought permission to travel to the United States to attend a relative’s wedding and later to France for a related celebration between May 3 and 22.
The court stated that foreign travel by an undertrial may be permitted only in cases of “pressing necessity,” such as medical emergencies or essential official duties. It categorically held that attending a wedding abroad does not qualify as such a necessity.
Addressing Murti’s contention that he had previously been allowed to travel abroad for similar reasons, the court observed that prior permissions do not create a precedent or entitle the accused to repeated foreign visits, especially when the trial has reached the stage of defence evidence. Murti is facing trial in a CBI case pending for over a decade, and the Supreme Court has already directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings.
The High Court upheld the April 24 order of the special CBI court which had denied Murti’s application for foreign travel.