ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN, SANJAY KISHAN KAUL
NIKESH TARACHAND SHAH – Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA – Respondent
The provided legal document primarily discusses the constitutional validity of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and the principles surrounding bail, discrimination, arbitrariness, and fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. It emphasizes that laws must not be manifestly arbitrary or discriminatory and must bear a rational relation to the objective they seek to achieve. The judgment underscores the importance of procedural fairness, equality before the law, and the protection of personal liberty.
However, the judgment does not specifically address issues related to the issuance, conditions, or confiscation of passports, especially in cases where passports are issued on an urgent basis without disclosing or recording criminal antecedents. The focus is on procedural fairness, constitutional protections against arbitrary laws, and the rights of individuals in relation to bail and criminal proceedings, rather than the specific legal regime governing passports or their confiscation.
Therefore, this judgment does not explicitly support or oppose the saying "Where a passport is issued on an urgent basis and no criminal antecedents are disclosed or recorded therein, such passport is not liable to confiscation." It does not provide any direct legal principles or rulings concerning passport issuance or confiscation, and thus, its support or contradiction of that statement cannot be inferred from the content provided.
JUDGMENT
R.F. Nariman, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. The present writ petitions and appeals raise the question of the constitutional validity of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Section 45(1) imposes two conditions for grant of bail where an offence punishable for a term of imprisonment of more than 3 years under Part A of the Schedule to the Act is involved. The conditions are that the Public Prosecutor must be given an opportunity to oppose any application for release on bail and the Court must be satisfied, where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of such offence, and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
3. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 was introduced, as its Statement of Objects and Reasons mentions, to make money laundering an offence, and to attach property involved in money laundering, so that this serious threat to the financial system of India is adequately dealt with. It is worth setting out the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Act in full.
“STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
It is being realised, world over, that money-launde
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