The Madras High Court has held that trial courts, while granting bail, cannot impose conditions requiring the accused to surrender their passport, as only passport authorities have the power to impound passports under the Passports Act.
Case Background
The court was hearing a petition filed by Raja, who was arrested in a criminal case registered by the Srirangam all-women police station in Trichy district in 2025. He was granted bail by the Principal District and Sessions Court in Trichy. Subsequently, the sessions court modified the bail conditions, directing that the petitioner shall not leave India without prior permission from the concerned court, shall surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate court, and shall appear before the police twice a week.
Petitioner's Argument
The petitioner's counsel argued that the condition to surrender the passport violates Article 21 of the Constitution. He further contended that the sessions court has no right to impound the passport, as the competent authority under the Passports Act is the passport authorities. Therefore, he sought to set aside the conditions imposed by the sessions court.
Court's Observation
Justice P. Dhanabal observed that the Passports Act is a special law, while the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is a general law. Therefore, impounding of a passport cannot be done by the court under Section 104 of CrPC, though it can impound any other document. It is well settled that the special law prevails over the general law. So far as the passport is concerned, the passport authorities alone can impound it, and the trial court, while granting bail, cannot impose such a condition to deposit the passport. If the court wants to impound a passport, it must do so through the concerned authorities.
Verdict
The judge observed that in the present case, the sessions court had imposed the condition to surrender the passport before the court, which is not in accordance with law. Hence, the judge set aside the condition directing the petitioner to surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate court. All other conditions shall remain intact, the judge observed.
