Delhi Court Rejects IYC President Udai Bhanu Chib's Passport Plea

The Patiala House Court has rejected IYC President Udai Bhanu Chib's request to retrieve his passport, stating that bail conditions remain in effect despite the filing of a charge sheet in the AI Summit protest case.

Delhi Court Rejects Passport Release Plea

New Delhi [India], October 24 (ANI): Delhi's Patiala House Court on Saturday refused to release the passport of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Udai Bhanu Chib. He is on regular bail in the AI Summit Protest case. He had approached the court seeking modification of the bail order to the extent of releasing his passport, which was deposited in the court as a bail condition imposed by the court while granting bail on February 28, 2026. Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet by the crime branch of Delhi Police before the court.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Dhirendra Rana declined the relief sought by Udai Bhanu Chib after hearing the arguments of Delhi police against the plea. The court was in agreement with the submissions of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for Delhi Police that the bail condition cannot be deleted merely because a charge sheet has been filed. The accused has failed to disclose any extreme hardship which he is facing due to retention of passport.

Court Observations and Legal Arguments

ASJ Rana said in the order, "Applicant has to seek permission from Learned Trial Court to travel abroad, if wants so, and if that is allowed then he can further pray for release of his passport for a specific period with an undertaking to deposit it again in terms of bail order of 28.02.2026." "With these observations, I find no merit in the present application. Hence, the present application stands dismissed," ASJ Rana ordered on October 24.

Arguments from Counsel

Senior counsel for Chib submitted that in compliance with the condition, the applicant surrendered his passport before the Trial Court. It was further submitted that by way of the present application, the applicant is seeking modification in the bail condition about surrender of passport. The counsel argued that the applicant has no intention of absconding, and it is worth mentioning that the Trial Court itself mentioned in the bail order that the applicant is not a flight risk. The accused had cooperated in the investigation, and now the charge sheet has been filed against him. Therefore, no useful purpose would be served by retaining his passport on record.

On the other hand, SPP Prashant Prakash appeared for Delhi Police and argued that bail conditions were imposed upon Udai Bhanu Chib to secure his presence and to ensure fair investigation. SPP also submitted that surrender/deposit of passport was imposed as a conscious and deliberate condition of bail to secure the presence of the accused. Moreover, no exigency has been shown by the applicant which may warrant the modification of the bail conditions. It is nowhere stated that the accused is facing any difficulty due to retention of his passport or that he has any plan to travel abroad in the near future. The present application is nothing but wastage of the court’s time and is completely vague in nature, the SPP argued.

While dismissing the application, the court observed, "Now, deposition of passport is not an onerous task by any stretch of imagination. If the accused wants to travel abroad, then he has to seek permission from the Learned Trial Court, and if the same is allowed, then his consequent relief of release of passport would automatically come into picture because the applicant cannot go abroad without a passport." (ANI)

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