The Bombay High Court on Thursday fined the customs department Rs.10 lakh and ordered to facilitate the return of a Chinese woman to her home country, who was held back in India since 2019 on wrong charges. She was deprived of her freedom and had to remain separated from her two daughters in China for five long years.
Justice Prithviraj Chavan showed the mirror to the Customs Department, underscoring that Article 21 of the Constitution of India provides that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law. He emphasised that the word “person” covers not only citizens of this country but also foreigners who come to this country.
The Chinese woman Cong Ling was wrongly booked by the customs authorities in the case of gold smuggling in 2019. The lady travelled on a flight from Beijing destined for Delhi on December 12, 2019. However, the bad weather forced the flight to land in Mumbai. She cleared immigration and took the domestic flight to Delhi. At customs examination, 10 gold bars, each weighing 1 Kg were found in her bag and she was arrested on the allegation of gold smuggling.
On October 10, 2023, a Magistrate Court acquitted her of the charges on the base of proof provided by her to have bought the gold bars to take it to her home country for later converting the same into jewellery.
The Sessions court, where an appeal had been filed, too upheld the acquittal.
The customs department had acted highhandedly by appealing to the Sessions court ignoring the Department of Revenue, Union Ministry of Finance circular which mandates that appeals against orders of Magistrates in customs matters be filed directly in the High Court.
When the wrongly accused lady wanted to return to China, her demand for an “exit permit” was denied by the Customs Department stating that they plan to challenge the acquittal order before the High Court.
Justice Chavan criticized the customs officials severely and observed that they were insensitive towards the woman’s right to life and liberty, protected under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. He said; “It is rightly submitted by the petitioner that conduct of the Customs Department (Prosecution Cell) is reprehensible and unbecoming of a responsible officer/s of the Department.
The court ordered the Customs Department to issue an “exit permit” within a week to the woman. It also directed the authorities to recover the amount of Rs. 10 lakh to be given as compensation to the aggrieved foreign national, from the salaries of the concerned officials who harassed the woman.
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