The Madras High Court on Friday quashed the passport authority's decision to impound to impound the passport of filmmaker Leena Manimekalai. .Single-judge Justice M Dhandapani directed the authority to release her passport.Manimekalai's passport was impounded in September citing a pending 2019 defamation case filed by film director and producer Susi Ganeshan, against whom Manimekalai had levelled sexual harassment allegations in 2018..As per Manimekalai's petition, the passport authority had emailed her in February this year, issuing a show-cause notice asking her to explain why her passport should not be impounded under Sections 10 (3)(e) and 12 (1)(b) of the Passport Act, 1967 since a criminal case is pending against her before Court.Manimekalai had replied to the said email in March 2021 and no further action was taken, she submitted. However, in August, a similar email was sent again to the filmmaker, issuing a show cause notice and stating that there is an adverse police verification report against her.Despite her reply a day later, the Passport Authority is stated to have sent an email on September 9, stating that her passport has been impounded, the petition said.Manimekalai submitted that the passport impoundment order comes at a time when she has been asked by York University, Toronto, Canada to be present on campus for research work, as part of the graduate program in film she has been pursuing since last year.It was submitted that the graduate course was being conducted largely on online and remote basis due to the pandemic, until recently, around July 16, 2021.Manimekalai added that she had already informed the Magistrate hearing Ganesan's defamation case about the development, which has been recorded by the court as well.Further, the mere pendency of the defamation case cannot be a ground to impound the passport and the passport was not obtained by suppressing the criminal case, it was stated. Manimekalai had, therefore, contended that the impoundment order was unwarranted and should be set aside.In this backdrop, she urged the Court to intervene and quash the order impounding her passport..Notably, a sessions court in Chennai had recently quashed a Magistrate order to impound Manimekalai's passport invoking Section 104, CrPC. The sessions court had concluded that the Magistrate had erred in citing Section 104, CrPC in this case.
The Madras High Court on Friday quashed the passport authority's decision to impound to impound the passport of filmmaker Leena Manimekalai. .Single-judge Justice M Dhandapani directed the authority to release her passport.Manimekalai's passport was impounded in September citing a pending 2019 defamation case filed by film director and producer Susi Ganeshan, against whom Manimekalai had levelled sexual harassment allegations in 2018..As per Manimekalai's petition, the passport authority had emailed her in February this year, issuing a show-cause notice asking her to explain why her passport should not be impounded under Sections 10 (3)(e) and 12 (1)(b) of the Passport Act, 1967 since a criminal case is pending against her before Court.Manimekalai had replied to the said email in March 2021 and no further action was taken, she submitted. However, in August, a similar email was sent again to the filmmaker, issuing a show cause notice and stating that there is an adverse police verification report against her.Despite her reply a day later, the Passport Authority is stated to have sent an email on September 9, stating that her passport has been impounded, the petition said.Manimekalai submitted that the passport impoundment order comes at a time when she has been asked by York University, Toronto, Canada to be present on campus for research work, as part of the graduate program in film she has been pursuing since last year.It was submitted that the graduate course was being conducted largely on online and remote basis due to the pandemic, until recently, around July 16, 2021.Manimekalai added that she had already informed the Magistrate hearing Ganesan's defamation case about the development, which has been recorded by the court as well.Further, the mere pendency of the defamation case cannot be a ground to impound the passport and the passport was not obtained by suppressing the criminal case, it was stated. Manimekalai had, therefore, contended that the impoundment order was unwarranted and should be set aside.In this backdrop, she urged the Court to intervene and quash the order impounding her passport..Notably, a sessions court in Chennai had recently quashed a Magistrate order to impound Manimekalai's passport invoking Section 104, CrPC. The sessions court had concluded that the Magistrate had erred in citing Section 104, CrPC in this case.
