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Though the impugned order may be within the terms of s. 10(3) (c), it must nevertheless not contravene any fundamental right and if it does, it would be void. Now, even if an order impounding a passport is made in the interests of public order decency or morality, the restriction imposed by it may be so wide, excessive disproportionate to the mischief or evil sought to be averted that it may be considered unreasonable and in that event, if the direct and inevitable consequence of the order is to abridge or take away freedom of speech and expression, it would be violative of Article 19(1)(a) and would not be protected by Article 19(2) and the same would, be the position where the order is in the interests of the general public but it infringes directly and inevitably on the freedom to carry on a profession in which case it would contravene Article 19(1) (g) without being saved by the provision enacted ion Article 19(6). [705 D-E] 6 3 5 The impugned order, in the present case does riot Violate either Art. 19(1)(a) or Art. 19(1)(g). What the impugned order does is to impound the passport of the petitioner and thereby prevent her from going abroad and at the date, when impugned order was made, there is nothing to show that the petitioner was intending to go abroad for the purpose of exercising her freedom or speech and expression or her right to carry on her profession as a journalist. The direct and inevitable consequence of the impugned order was to impede the exercise of her right to go abroad and not to interfere with her freedom of speech and expression or her right to carry on her profession. [706 F-G] The petitioner is not justified in seeking to limit the expression "interests of the general public" to matters relating to foreign affairs. The argument that the said expression could not cover a situation where the presence of a person is required to give evidence before a commission of Inquiry_ is plainly erroneous as it seeks to cut down the width and amplitude of the expression "interests of the general public," an expression which has a well recognised legal connotation and which is found in Article 19(5) as well as Article 19(6). It is true that that there is always a perspective within which a statute is intended to operate, but that does not justify reading of a statutory provision in a manner not warranted by the language or narrowing down its scope and meaning by introducing a limitation which has no basis either in the, language or in the context of a statutory provision Clauses (d), (e) and (h) of S. 10(3) make it clear that there are several grounds in this section which do not relate to foreign affairs. [709 B-F] Moreover the present case is not one where the maxim "expressio unius exclusio ulterius has any application at all. [710-B-C] Rohtas Industries Ltd. v. S. O. Agarwal & Anr., [1969] 3 SCR 108 @ 128 referred to.

OBSERVATION It is true that the power under s. 10(3) (c) is rather a drastic power to interfere with a basic human right, but this power has been conferred by the legislature in public interest and there is no doubt that it will be sparingly used and that too, with great care and circumspection and as far as possible. the passport of a person will not be impounded merely on the ground of his being required in connection with a proceeding, unless the case is brought within s. 10(3)(e) or sec. 10(3)(b). [710G-H] Ghani v. Jones [1970] I Q. B 693 quoted with approval. An order impounding a passport can be made by the Passport Authority only if it is actually in the interests of the general public to do so and it is not enough that the interests of the general public may be likely to be served in future by the making of the order. In the present case, it was not merely on the future likelihood of the interests of the general public being advanced that the impugned order was made by the Central Government. The impugned order was made because, in the opinion of the Central Govt. the presences of the petitioner was necessary for giving evidence before the Commission of Inquiry and according to the report received by the Central Government she was likely to leave India and that might frustrate or impede to some extent the inquiries which were being conducted by the Com- missions of Inquiry. [711-C-D] Krishna lyer, J. (concurring with Bhagwati, J.) British Raj has frowned on foreign travels by Indian patriotic suspects and instances from the British Indian Chapter may abound. In many countries the passport and visa system has been used as potent paper curtain to inhibit illustrious writers, outstanding statesmen, humanist churchmen and renowned scientists, if they are dissenters, from leaving their national frontiers. Things have changed, global awareness has dawned. The European Convention on Human Rights and bilateral understandings have made headway to widen freedom of travel abroad as integral to liberty of the person. And the universal Declaration of Human Rights has proclaimed in Article 13, that every one has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country. This human planet is our single home, though geographically variegated, culturally diverse, politically pluralist in science and technology competitive and co-operative in arts and life-styles a lovely mosaic and, above all, suffused with a cosmic unconsciousness of unity and inter- dependence. [717 B, C, D, E-F] Viewed from another angle, travel abroad is a cultural enrichment which enables one's understanding of one's own country in better light. Thus it serves national interest to have its citizenry see other countries and judge one's country on a comparative scale. [718 B] The right of free movement is a vital element of personal liberty. The right of free movement includes right to travel abroad. Among the great guaranteed rights life and liberty are the first among equals, carrying a universal connotation cardinal to a decent human order and protected by constitutional armour. Truncate liberty in Art. 21 traumatically and the several other freedoms fade out automatically. [720 A-B] Personal liberty makes for the worth of the human person. Travel makes liberty worthwhile. life is a terrestrial opportunity for unfolding personality rising to a higher scale moving to fresh woods and reaching out to reality which makes our earthly journey a true fulfilment, not a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing, but a fine frenzy rolling between heaven and earth. The spirit of Man is at the root of Art. 21 Absent liberty, other freedoms are frozen. [721 C-F] Procedure which deals with the modalities of regulating, restricting or even rejecting a fundamental right falling within Article 21 has to be fair, not foolish, carefully designed to effectuate, not to subvert, the substantive right itself. Thus, understood, 'procedure' must rule out anything arbitrary, freakish or bizarre. What is fundamental is life and liberty. What is procedural is the manner of its exercise. This quality of fairness in the process is emphasised by the strong word "establish" which means 'settled firmly'," not wantonly or whimsically. [722 H, 723 A-B] Procedure in Article 21 means fair, not formal procedure. Law is reasonable law, not any enacted piece. As Art. 22 specifically spells out the procedural safeguards for preventive and punitive detention, a law providing for such detention should conform to Art. 22. It has been rightly pointed out that for other rights forming part of personal liberty, the procedural safeguards enshrined in Art. 21 are available. Otherwise, as the procedural safeguards contained in Art. 22 will be available only in cases of preventive and punitive detention the right to life, more fundamental than any other forming part of personal liberty and paramount to the happiness, dignity and worth of the individual, will not be entitled to any procedural safeguard, save such as a legislature's mood chooses. [723 F-H] Kochunmi's case (AIR 1960 SC 1080, 1093) referred. Liberty of locomotion into alien territory cannot be unjustly forbidden by the Establishment and passport legislation must take processual provisions which accord with fair norms, free from extraneous pressure and, by and large, complying with natural justice. Unilateral arbitrariness, police dossiers, faceless affiants, behind- the-back materials oblique motives and the inscrutable face of an official sphinx do not fill the 'fairness,' bill. [726 D-E] Article 21 clubs life with liberty and when we interpret the colour and content of 'procedure established by law', we must be alive to the deadly peril of life being deprived without minimal processual justice, legislative callousness despising hearing and fair opportunities of defence. [726 F] Sections 5, 6 and 10 of the impugned legislation must be tested even under Art. 21 on canons of processual justice to the people outlined above. Hearing is obligatory-meaningful hearing, flexible and realistic, according to circumstances' but not ritualistic and wooden. In exceptional cases and emergency situations, interim measures may be taken, to avoid the mischief of the passportee becoming an. escapee before the hearing begins. "Bolt the stables after the horse has been stolen" is not a command of natural justice. But soon after the provisional seizure, a reasonable hearing must follow, to minimise procedural prejudice. And when a prompt final order is made against the applicant or passport holder the reasons must be disclosed to him almost invariably save in those dangerous cases, where irreparable injury will ensue to the State. A government which revels in secrecy in the field of people's liberty not only acts against democratic decency but busies itself with its own burial. That is the writing on the wall if history were teacher, memory our mentor and decline of liberty not our unwitting endeavour. Public power must rarely hide its heart in an open society and system. [727 F-H] Article 14 has a pervasive processual potency and versatile quality, equalitarian in its soul and allergic to discriminatory diktats. Equality is the antithesis of arbitrariness. [728 A] As far as question of extra-territorial jurisdiction in foreign lands is concerned, it is a misconception. Nobody contends that India should interfere with other countries and their sovereignty to ensure free movement of Indians in those countries. What is meant is that the Government of India should not prevent by any sanctions it has over its citizens from moving within in any other country if that other country has no objection to their travelling within its territory. [728 C] In Gopalan's case it was held that Art. 22 is a self- contained Code, however, 'this has suffered supersession at. the hands of R. C. Cooper. [728 D] Sakal Newspapers [1962] 3 SCR 842, Cooper [1973] 3 SCR 530. Bennet Coleman [1973] 2 SCR 759 and Shambu Nath Sarkar [1973] 1 SCR 856 referred to.

Article 19(1) (a) guarantees to Indian citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. It does not delimit that right in any manner and there is no reason, arising either out of interpretational dogmas or pragmatic considerations, why the courts should strain the language of the Article to cut down the amplitude of that right. The plain meaning of the clause guaranteeing free speech and expression is that Indian citizens are entitled to exercise that right wherever they choose, regardless of geographical considerations, subject of course to the operation of any existing law or the power of the State to make a law imposing reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, as provided in article 19(2). The exercise of the right of free speech and expression beyond the limits of Indian territory will, of course, also be subject to the laws of the country in which the freedom is or is intended to be exercised. I am quite clear that the Constitution does not confer any power on the executive to prevent the exercise by an Indian citizen of the right of free speech and expression on foreign soil, subject to what I have just stated. In fact, that seems to me to be the crux of the matter, for which reason I said, though with respect, that the form in which the learned Attorney General stated his proposition was likely to cloud the true issue. The Constitution guarantees certain fundamental freedoms and except where their exercise is limited by territorial considerations, those freedoms may be exercised wheresoever one chooses, subject to the exceptions or qualifications mentioned above.