The Delhi High Court has held that a person’s action in the past seeking political asylum in a foreign country cannot be construed as being prejudicial to India’s sovereignty and integrity and cannot form the basis for denying him an Indian passport.
However depreciable the action in applying for political asylum may be, it does not fall within the scope of “activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India” and this action could not be considered a ground for denying passport, ruled Justice Vibhu Bakhru in his verdict on three writ petitions, delivered earlier this week.
The court said the action of petitioners Kulvir Singh, Inderdeep Chumber and Bhupinder Singh Nijjar in applying for a political asylum may have resulted in bad publicity for the country, but that did not mean it was prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India.
