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The Allahabad High Court recently clarified that it had not put any blanket ban on foreign trips of the film director and choreographer Remo D'Souza. After being named in a cheating and extortion case, D'Souza surrendered his passport and the lower courts denied his prayer to release it for two months for his Dubai trip. At present D'Souza is on anticipatory bail in the case.

The bench of Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi stated, "There is no blanket ban on his foreign trip, what is required is previous permission of the trial court before leaving India and for this, his passport is to be released for a definite period for which the applicant accused wants to go abroad."

The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (the trial court) had rejected D'Souza's application for release of his passport while observing that the passport has been deposited in terms & conditions imposed by the High Court. Then D'Souza's criminal revision plea against the ACJM order had also been dismissed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Ghaziabad on the same line. D'Souza had sought the release of his passport alleging that he wanted to go to Dubai as he had entered into an agreement to shoot a program.

Court clarified, "It is true that passport has been deposited in compliance of the condition by this Court but at the same time this Court has given liberty to the applicant that he may go abroad after seeking permission of the trial court."

Accordingly, Court disposed of D'Souza's application for quashing the two lower courts' orders with the direction that he may move fresh application before the trial court for permission to leave India mentioning the grounds and reasons for his travel to abroad.

"The learned trial court shall consider all the facts and circumstances of the case and particularly the profession and business commitment of the applicant and after hearing both the parties may pass appropriate order on it, " Court held. 

In 2016, a case was registered against D'Souza on basis of a complaint by one Satendra Tyagi alleging that D'Souza made him invest Rs 5 crore in 2014 during the production of the film DOA: Death of Amar that starred Rajeev Khandelwal and Zareen Khan. He promised to return double the amount after the film's release, but he later failed to do so.

Based on Tyagi's complaint, an FIR under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) was registered against D'Souza and one other on December 16, 2016.

While granting D'Souza anticipatory bail in that case in November 2019, the high court had imposed a condition that he will deposit his passport with the SSP Ghaziabad and shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court.

Case Title: Remo D'Souza v. State of U.P. and Another