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Abhi (law student)     27 March 2015

Passport issue

my cousin sister got married in 2010. in 2013 she filed 498a and her husband filed for divorce.

her husbands passsport is with her since 2013. but few days back she came to know that he went abroad.

on enquiry  we came to know that he got NOC from the trail court  for getting duplicate passport, and  he filed a FIR  copy stating tht he LOST  his  passport.

we rferred to passport act and it says that passport is government document. and obtaining passport thru fraud is offence.

so now can his passport be seized? 

as it is it gets impounded once convicted, but any remedy  earlier?

is it not crime to register false complaint with police and to cheat the court furnishing flse affidavit  that he LOST the passport  inspite of knowing that it is with his wife?

 

 



Learning

 11 Replies


(Guest)

why would it be considered a cheat..
as per him it is LOST by suppressing his knowledge within himself that the passport is with you..now,it is the police duty to trace and find the passport and they will eventually get to you..he had left the job to police do it.
your sister would have been in a much better position by bringing up this thing of passport impounding to prevent him from travelling out of the country soon after registering the case. 
but she seem to have simply assumed and taken the law on her hands to an extent by keeping his passport with her ..
what rights does your cousin sister have to hold someone's passport forcibly? what your cousin sister did is a crime as well by having his passport..

Abhi (law student)     28 March 2015

Firstly i would like to thank the experts on this forum who responded for my private message(PM).

@member12345  ,   how can u say that she obtained it forcibly? and ur first sentence itself speaks that knowingly,willfully husband ha suppressed the fact which is within his knowledge.  and his complaint itself to police is given thru furnishing wrong information. so how can he blame police.

So for every thing we keep and forget ,cm we go to police and report that it is "lost"?

And do you think the persons sitting there in courts  cannot understand what would have happened?

 

As per our lawyers opinion ,

1) he would have asked for it through court when he knows it is with his wife.

2)moreover even if he says he forgot , it is for him to prove it , because passport is document having legal sanctity attached to it and a person cannot be ignorant of it.

3) My advocate also says that in view of the marital disputes between wife ans husband, the act of husband  shall be presumed to be a fraudulent act, and also casts a opinion that he had cheated the honouarble court , because facts are gathered from the circumstances that were then prevailing.

4) He further says that husband's passport can be impounded by passport authorities and that he can be sentenced to imprisoment as per provisions of the passport  act .

 5) My advocate further says , at the first instance, his passport can be seized , and impounded and his bail can also be cancelled. And later his "MEMORY TEST" is taken.

6) My lawyer further said that he cannot do anything to my sister as he has told the court of law that he lost it and now burden is actually on him to show that he did not do a dishonest, fraudlent act  wifully.

 now you tell me i keep 5lakhs with my friend that i will take it later, i know it  is with him, and since v r not in good terms he didnt bother to give it back to me  n without bothering to ask him can i go and file complaint in police station that i lost it in transit. won't it amount to furnishing false information to a public official knowing it and believing it to be false , which is offence under ipc? 

 

Anyway  the expert opinion i have received  on this forum also says its  a clear cut case of fraud.  i would like to know whether my advocate is right? 

Northern Queen (Manager)     28 March 2015

Sounds like your cousin (or possibly you) wants revenge here. Admit your cousin deliberately withheld his passport as a 'blackmail tool' to make this man beg on his knees. He outwitted her and used his initiative by getting it replaced. Good on him. 498a is a weapon of mass destruction and should only be used in genuine cases. Now its used as an easy money option for greedy advocates and serpents in saris. If you use it as a fireball then your going to get your hands burnt dear!!!

Abhi (law student)     28 March 2015

hi northern queen! 

went thru your profie and as you said u r not a qualified advocate i dnt want to debate much. I am only expecting replies which hold good or atleast which are considered worthful in court of law.

Please dont give your personal opinion.( as you said in ur profile)

because people here post their queries with a hope to get solutions which  stand in court of law atlest to some extent.

Being a law student i can say " FORGETTING" is not a good defense.  

And as you say " its good on him"  i would like to know how?

I would like to know the following from the members of the forum.

1) is there a provision which says a wife is not entitled to the possess  passport of her husband ?

2)  did law cast a duty on her to return the document back to her husband?  if yes under what section and statute.

3) My BIL is right in getting duplicate passport, thru fraud? ( under what section & statute)

 4) The act committed by BIL is not fraud . HOW?

 

Northern Queen (Manager)     28 March 2015

Dear Abhi No I'm not an Advocate. However, I am an educated woman and a passport is the property of the government (or HRM government in UK ) not your BIL's wife. She has absolutely no right holding on to it. What stopped her from returning it to him. There is more to this case than meets the eye. If you are a Law student then you should know this basic law. I suggest you keep out of your sisters business and concentrate on your own. Doesn't she have a voice of her own. Or is it that she depends on you because one day you will be a big hot shot lawyer. It beggars believe that you are posting on here when you are working alongside such learned fellows. Put your dolly back in the pram dear and grow up.

Northern Queen (Manager)     28 March 2015

Dear Abhi As a Law student you should be aware of the following: The Passports Act 1967 - section 17 (all passports are property of the government) It does not belong to the wife (or a husband if it was reverse case). Your sister/cousin committed an offence by holding on to his passport and he did right by getting it replaced as she may well have destroyed it. If he breached 498a rules then that is an entirely different matter. You seem to be barking up the wrong tree by going down the 'lost passport fraud' route to get revenge. You are also showing your true colours of a spiteful woman trying to get a man locked up when the real issue is over a matter of divorce settlement. Shameful and very shallow!

Abhi (law student)     29 March 2015

@ Northern Queen:

If u have any valid and legal point do post it and have control on the language being used.

I have put 4 questions , answer them if at all you are well versed with law.

And if you speak of my caliber n expertise there is no need to give  leads or proofs to this forum  to prove my case. It will be done at right time in right place.

I already said i am asking for replies which stand in courts of law from legal experts. your reply is of no use to me and ya u r being more revengeful forgetting that u r posting in a public forum. 

"Empty Vessels make much noise".

 

Northern Queen (Manager)     29 March 2015

Dear Abhi It seems your cage has been rattled! Please continue to throw your dolly out of the pram dear. It amuses me, as well as all the other members on this forum who are watching this thread. When you accuse someone of 'controlling their language', then please make sure you understand the real meaning of the sentence. it is somewhat hypocritical of you.

Northern Queen (Manager)     29 March 2015

@Abhi I wonder why none of the learned and highly respected Advocates have not responded to your ridiculous query. Do go and file a FIR. See how the Police will laugh so hard (and take your money too). Take a chill pill dear. 😄

sirish kumar (others)     29 March 2015

@ Abhi 

 Ur sister has acted smart, n BIL is Over Smart.

Police has no role here since 102 cr.p.c cannot be used . There are judgments which say police cnt impound passport and that they can seize only to limited period and later can get it impounded by RPO. But your case does not fall under this.

Your  case falls under Sec 10(3)  as well as Sec 12  of passport act  and  RPO can impound passport on a complaint from you or on a direction from trail court which issued NOC.

Escalate the matter to the court that issued  NOC  and to the RPO which issued him the passport.

 The circumstances of your case itself prove as to why he has mentioned that he lost the passports. 

There are very few  judgments on passport offences of this nature so you may not get too many precedents ,case laws .

see there is a word called "due diligence" in law and a person is always expected to use it. so in all probabilities ur BIL has to prove that  his act was not intentional. he cannot simpy say i did not find it and so i thought it is lost. 

If ur BIL says he forgot about handing it over to ur sister ,ur sister  equally can say that she forgot it due to marital disturbances and that once she found it is with her, she wanted to return but by that time she got to know of duplicate passport and has to take other recourse.  so no worries. 

as it is ur BIL said he lost passport , so now he cnt say his wife  had taken it forcibly.

see for a lost passport to get duplicate, one ha sto fill Annexure "L". check the records in trail court to see whether he has filled it and what did he write in the column asking reason  regarding loss of passport. 

Also see the FIR copy he lodged regarding misplacement of passport. these will be helpful to you fight ur case on merits.

bottom line : your  BIL 's action is intentional ,just make court believe it.

there are cases of these sort decided by kerala and gujarat courts , if i find them will be sending u.

 

 

 

 

 

Abhi (law student)     29 March 2015

thnx sirish. we are not going to lodge  FIR.  we also thought of moving petition in the court and refer matter to RPO.. i have the kerala court judgement but dnt have gujarat judgement and ya u are r8 , i refferred in library also,not many case laws are available.  each case is different and has to be decided on merits. 


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