Aakar Patel 'Stopped at Immigration Again' Despite Delhi Court Order

"CBI has not taken me off their Look Out Circular," Aakar Patel said in a tweet.

File image of Aakar Patel.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Aakar Patel)

Hours after a Delhi Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against him, Aakar Patel, chair of the Amnesty International India board, said that he was stopped yet again by the immigration authorities at Bengaluru airport from boarding his flight to the United States of America (USA).

Taking to Twitter, Patel said:

“Have been stopped at immigration again. CBI has not taken me off their Look Out Circular...Immigration at bangalore airport says nobody at CBI answering their calls.”

“Will move court again tomorrow if I have to,” he added.

This is the second time in two days that Patel has been stopped by the immigration authorities.

After Patel was first stopped on Wednesday morning, and told that he could not go as the CBI had issued an LOC against him, Patel had filed a plea in a Delhi Court challenging the LOC.

The Delhi Court had subsequently, on Thursday, ordered the CBI to immediately withdraw the same.

The court had also directed the CBI to file a compliance report by 4 pm on Friday and said that certain directions had been issued to the CBI with regard to the same.

Further, noting that Patel's counsel had sought compensation for the loss caused to the applicant and that in the present case, "apart from the monetary loss, the applicant had suffered mental harassment," the court, in its order, asked the Director of CBI to tender an apology.

“The court is of the conserved opinion that in this case, a written apology from the head of the CBI, ie Director, CBI, acknowledging the lapse on the part of his subordinate, to the applicant, would go a long way in not only healing the wounds of the applicant but also upholding the trust and confidence of the public in the premier institution."

Delhi court, in its written order

On Wednesday, after he was first stopped at the airport, Patel had confirmed to The Quint that he was travelling to the US to speak at University of California, Berkley (UC, Berkley); New York University (NYU) and University of Michigan, Anne Arbor. He was to deliver a talk on the attack on civil society at UC, Berkley; speak about his latest book at NYU and participate in a social media interaction at University of Michigan, Anne Arbor.

The LOC, against Aakar Patel, was in connection with a case against Amnesty International, India, which pertains to alleged irregularities in foreign funding and a violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in 2019.

(This is a developing story.)