Amnesty International India Chair Aakar Patel (File) Amnesty International India Chair Aakar Patel moved a Delhi court on Friday seeking action against the CBI investigating officer (IO) for contempt of a court order quashing a look out notice (LOC) issued against him.
On Thursday, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar granted relief to Patel who was stopped from boarding a flight to the United States a day earlier at the Bangalore International Airport. The court had also asked the CBI director to issue a written apology to “heal his wounds” and “uphold the public trust in the agency”.
However, Patel was prevented from flying out of the country late on Thursday night.
Patel’s application stated that while IO Himanshu Bahuguna was present in court, advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir, who appeared on behalf of the applicant, had apprised the IO that Patel intending on taking a 12.30 am flight for a scheduled lecture at the University of Michigan. The application stated that the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had verbally told the CBI to extend full cooperation.
The application stated that despite the passing of the order, the IO had switched off his mobile phone instead of being available for the compliance of the order. This, the applicant said, “speaks volumes about the respondent agency in bulldozing the valuable fundamental rights of the applicant”.
The application also stated that the CBI “has acted with a clear intention to harass the the applicant and suffocate his fundamental rights.”
“The conduct of the respondent agency indicates that the premier investigating agency of the country does not believe in rule of law and rather seeks to vent harassment and undue persecution of the applicant instead of a fair prosecution,” the plea stated.
Patel’s lawyers submitted that CBI “has virtually played with the fundamental rights of the applicant with a sense of impunity and to add insult to the injury, the respondent in their endeavour to harass the applicant has chosen to disregard the order of the court.”
Patel was first stopped from leaving to the US on April 6 as the CBI had issued a LOC in connection with a case registered against Amnesty International India in 2019 under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. At the time, Patel headed the human rights organisation.
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