The Delhi High Court has questioned the issuance of F-token to Sushil Ansal, convicted in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire incident that claimed 59 lives, for getting a short-validity passport, saying how could a convict be treated as a VVIP.
Justice Najmi Waziri made this observation as F-tokens are only issued to very very important persons (VVIP) for issuance of a passport.
“It is argued that on July 22, 2018, a short-validity passport was issued on the basis of an F-token issued to the applicant. The F-token is issued only for VVIP persons. It is a matter of wonder as to how a convict in a multiple culpable homicide case could still be treated or classified as a VVIP to avail priority benefits before the Regional Passport Officer, New Delhi.
Inquiry report
“At whose behest or recommendation, if any, was the said F-token issued to him, remains unanswered,” the court said after going through an inquiry report filed by the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) on how Ansal’s application in May last year for a passport was moved from pre-verification to post-verification mode.
The court also termed as “inexplicable” how the pre-verification status was changed to post-verification and the ‘stop’ put on his passport application was also cleared, despite two adverse reports sent by Delhi Police to the Regional Passport Office.
When there was such a clear communication on record from the end of the police, “there was no question of the verification being changed from pre-verification to post-verification because the passport office had full knowledge of the facts of the case”, the court said.
Taking note of the submission by the government lawyer, the court listed the matter for further hearing on September 26.
