The court made it clear that such personal or leisure-related reasons are not considered essential when someone is still facing a criminal trial.
Lucknow, May 2 – The Allahabad High Court has said that a person who is out on bail does not have an automatic or guaranteed right to travel abroad just because they wish to attend a family wedding or go on a holiday.
The court made it clear that such personal or leisure-related reasons are not considered essential when someone is still facing a criminal trial.
The ruling was given by Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow bench, who dismissed a petition filed by Aditya Murti, a consultant working at the Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly.
Murti had asked the court to give him permission to travel to the United States from May 3 to 22 to attend a relative’s wedding, and later go to France for a related celebration. However, the court turned down his request, highlighting that such foreign visits are not a necessity while a trial is still going on.
The court said: “An accused person who has been enlarged on bail can be granted permission to travel abroad for some pressing necessity like medical treatment, attending essential official duties and the like.”
It added that “attending a relative’s wedding does not constitute a pressing necessity.”
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Murti had also argued that he had been allowed to travel abroad for similar reasons several times earlier.
In response to this, the court stated: “Merely because the trial court had earlier granted permission to the applicant to travel abroad for non-essential objects on numerous occasions, he does not get a right to travel abroad for non-essential objects this time also, when the trial has reached the stage of defence evidence.”
Murti’s request had earlier been rejected by a special CBI court on April 24, prompting him to move the High Court. He is an accused in a CBI case that has been ongoing for over 10 years. The Supreme Court had even issued directions to the trial court to speed up the case, which is now at the defence evidence stage—a crucial part of the trial process.
The High Court’s judgment serves as a reminder that bail does not mean complete freedom, especially when the criminal trial is still active. Courts will only allow foreign travel in urgent and essential situations, not for social functions or vacations.
