Trial courts can’t order surrender of passport in bail conditions: HC

Madurai: Observing that only passport authorities could impound passports, Madras high court held that trial courts, while granting bail, cannot impose conditions to surrender passports before the court.The court was hearing the petition filed by Raja. The petitioner was arrested in a criminal case registered by the Srirangam all women police in Trichy district in 2025. The petitioner 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, the petitioner shall surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate court and directing him to appear before the police twice a week.The petitioner's counsel submitted that the condition to surrender the passport is in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. Further, the sessions court has no right to impound the passport and, as per the Passports Act, the competent authority is the passport authorities. Hence, he sought to set aside the conditions imposed by the sessions court.Justice P Dhanabal observed that the Passports Act is a special law while the 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 the passport and the trial court, while granting bail, cannot impose such a condition to deposit the passport. If at all the court wants to impound a passport, the same can be done through the concerned authorities.The judge observed that in the case on hand also the sessions court has imposed the condition to surrender the passport before the court and the same is not in accordance with law. Hence, the judge set aside the condition imposed by the sessions court directing the petitioner to surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate court. All other conditions shall remain intact, the judge observed.