Delhi High Court ordered CBI to withdraw lookout notice issued against former Amnesty India chief Aakar Patel.

The Delhi Court upholds the Trial Court’s order that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) withdraw the look-out circular issued against former Amnesty India chief Aakar Patel immediately. However, Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann overturned the CBI Director’s order to submit a written apology to Patel for the agency’s ‘deliberate’ actions.

Last December, the CBI filed a charge sheet against Amnesty India and its former chief, Aakar Patel, for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. Aakar Patel recently went to court to challenge a lookout circular (LOC) issued by the CBI against him. A sessions court overruled a judgement by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court ordering CBI to remove the LOC.

Aakar Patel was ordered by the sessions court to seek permission from the court before travelling abroad. An open LOC warns immigration officials at airports and ports, who stop a person from leaving the country. Delhi court had already issued a notice to the CBI in response to Aakar Patel’s contempt plea based on the sessions court judgement.