Delhi HC quashes lookout circular issued against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai
Thursday, 12 March 2015 - 11:57am IST | Agency: dna webdesk
Delhi High Court has quashed lookout circular issued against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai. The court said, "You cannot muzzle dissent in a democracy... Citizens can have different opinion of development policies," and also directed the government to expunge the 'offloaded' entry in her passport.
Delhi High Court has quashed lookout circular issued against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai. The court said, "You cannot muzzle dissent in a democracy... Citizens can have different opinion of development policies," and also directed the government to expunge the 'offloaded' entry in her passport.
Pillai was stopped from flying to London on January 11 on the basis of a look-out-circular (LOC) issued by the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The government said "she had plans to testify on the alleged violations of forest rights of indigenous tribal people in the Mahan coal block area" of Madhya Pradesh before a British parliamentary committee. However, the government has now said it had no objection to Pillai expressing her opinion on the issue in India and it would permit her to travel abroad if she gave an undertaking to not express such opinions abroad.
Appearing before the Delhi High Court on Thursday, Pillai said that it was her fundamental right to voice her thoughts. "My basic contention was that I will not give an undertaking to the government, I refuse to be gagged because it is my fundamental right - the freedom to express my opinion freely in this country and to travel outside this country and to associate with any organisation which is registered in this country and is working under the laws laid down by the constitution," she had said.
Source : DnaIndia.com
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-delhi-hc-quashes-lookout-circular-issued-against-greenpeace-activist-priya-pillai-2068144
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