Court upholds order asking CBI to drop LOC against Patel

New Delhi, April 16

A Delhi Special Court on Saturday upheld a magistrate court’s order to the CBI to withdraw the ‘Look Out Circular’ (LOC) issued against Amnesty International India’s former chief Aakar Patel in a Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) violation case.

Acting on the CBI’s petition, Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann, however, set aside the Delhi Additional Chief Matrimonial Magistrate’s direction to the CBI Director to tender a written apology to Patel for the lapses on the part of the probe agency in issuing the LOC against him.

“Once the matter is in the court, circumstance warranting opening of LOC will arise only when the respondent does not appear in the trial court despite coercive measures,” Mann said, adding “subjective satisfaction of the Investigating Officer (IO) to assess the situation for issuing the LOC must flow from the objective criteria laid down in law”.

Patel was stopped from boarding a flight to the US on April 6 in view of the ‘Look Out Circular’. —