Courts cannot direct passport surrender for bail; impounding power lies exclusively with passport authorities under special law.

This petition has been filed to set aside the condition nos. 1 to 3 imposed by the learned Principal District and Sessions Judge, Tiruchirapalli in Crl.M.P.No.613 of 2026 dated 11.02.2026.

2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that based on the complaint lodged by the defacto complainant the respondent police have registered a false case against the petitioner for the offences underSections 294(b), 417 and 506(i) ofand the petitioner was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 23.12.2025. Thereafter the petitioner approached the Sessions Court for bail in Crl.M.P.No.212 of 2026 and the Sessions Court has granted bail on 10.01.2026. Thereafter the petitioner has filed another petition in Crl.M.P.No.613 of 2026 to relax the condition imposed by the Sessions Court and the Sessions Court by an order dated 11.02.2026 modified the conditions as follows:

a) The petitioner/accused shall not leave from India without prior permission from the concerned Court.

b) The petitioner /accused shall surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate Court c) The petitioner/accused shall appear and sign before the respondent police station weekly once on every Monday at 10.00a.m., until further orders.

3. The condition to surrender the passport is in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Further the Sessions Court has no right to impound the passport and as per the passport act, the competent authority is the passport authorities, however exceeding the limit the Sessions Court had directed the petitioner to surrender the passport, therefore the condition imposed by the Sessions Court directing the petitioner to surrender the passport is liable to be set aside.

4. The learned Government Advocate(Crl.Side) appearing for the respondent would submit that considering the gravity of offence the Sessions Court had directed the petitioner to surrender the passport before the concerned jurisdictional magistrate Court and inorder to secure the presence of the petitioner the Sessions Court had imposed the condition, thereby seeks dismissal of the petition.

5. Heard both sides and perused the materials available on record.

6.In this case the prosecution has registered the case against the petitioner for the offences under Sections 294(b), 417 and 506(i) of and the petitioner was granted bail by the Sessions Court in Crl.M.P.No. 212 of 2026 on 10.01.2026 and thereafter the petitioner had approached the Sessions Court for modification of the bail condition and the Sessions Court through an order dated 11.02.2026 in Crl.M.P.No.613 of 2026 modified the condition and directed the petitioner/accused not leave from India without prior permission from the concerned Court and to surrender his passport to the jurisdictional magistrate Court and to appear and sign before the respondent police station weekly once on every Monday at 10.00a.m., until further orders. Aggrieved by the said condition the present petition has been filed.

7. The main contention urged by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner is that the Sessions Court has imposed condition to surrender his passport and the same is against law and also under Section 109 of BNSS ., the Court has no power to impound passport. As per passport act the competent authority has to take steps to impound the passport, therefore according to the petitioner the condition imposed by the Sessions Court to surrender passport is not in accordance with law. To substantiate the contention he relied on the following judgments:

a) Suresh Nanda .vs. Central Bureau of Investigation reported in (2008)2 SCC(Cri.