Goa: Foreigner facing criminal charge wants to go home for work, court says no

PANAJI: An Austrian national, facing a criminal case for alleged involvement in a drug case, has been denied permission to travel to Austria, work there for seven months, and return.
The sessions court on Thursday dismissed the application of the 34-year-old, requesting that he be permitted to return to Austria as he has been offered employment as an event manager till December 2020. He stated that he would return to India to face trial and would not abscond.

Justice Irshad Agha stated that any person who is facing trial, or against whom a chargesheet has been filed, cannot be permitted to leave the country unless there is an assurance that the person will return to face trial.
“The applicant, in the present case, was found in possession of cocaine and charas. The offence is of a very serious nature. Therefore, no leniency can be shown,” the court stated. Further, it said that the applicant had not produced any documents to show that he has any ticket booked to go to Austria and no document to show that he would definitely return to Goa to face trial.
“If such an application was allowed, every foreign national facing trial or investigation, would have applied for leave to go to their native place or go abroad,” Agha stated.
The applicant’s plea, that he wants to return home so that he can be safe from the coronavirus pandemic, was also rejected.
“If the applicant does not appear, the proceedings will be stalled,” the court stated.
The court also stated that there must be no delay in filing of the chargesheet on pretext that the report is not received, as was stated by the public prosecutor.
“The investigating officer cannot refrain from filing the chargesheet only because the report is not received. It has to be filed within a particular time. Under exceptional circumstances, if the investigating agency is not in a position to file the chargesheet, they have to obtain necessary exemption from the court, and which application has to be dealt with depending upon the facts and circumstances of the case,” the court stated.
The Austrian national was arrested in November 2019 under the NDPS Act on allegations of being in possession of 2.3g of cocaine and 6.2g of charas. Later, he was released on bail where one of the conditions was that he deposits his passport. The accused, who has been visiting Goa since 2010, had come down on a tourist visa which was valid up to May 19, 2020.