HC raps Customs for forcing Chinese woman to stay back in India, orders Centre to pay her ₹10L

Bombay HC raps customs for wrongful detention of Chinese woman acquitted of gold smuggling, orders ₹10 lakh compensation.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday rapped the customs department for forcing a 38-year-old Chinese woman, who was arrested under the pretext of trying to smuggle gold into India, to stay back in the country even after she was acquitted by a magistrate court and the acquittal was confirmed by the sessions court.

HT Image

Observing that the conduct of the Customs officials was “not only wrongful and vindictive,” but also amounted to “gross abuse of power,” a single judge bench of justice Prithivraj Chavan directed the central government to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the woman for the mental agony, trauma and sufferings she underwent due to the conduct of the customs officials.

The observation came in the backdrop of the court rulings in favour of the 38-year-old Chinese national, Cong Ling.

On December 12, 2019, Ling had boarded a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong with 10 kg gold for making jewellery. She had a connecting flight to Hong Kong from New Delhi, but due to bad weather, the flight was diverted to Mumbai.

On October 10, 2023, the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court acquitted Ling, observing that she had no plans to come to Mumbai in the first place and had a connecting flight from Delhi with a valid ticket. Besides, the court said, she was arrested before clearing the immigration.

The customs department challenged her acquittal before the sessions court, which rejected the appeal on February 2, 2024.

After the sessions court order, acting on the woman’s plea, the magistrate court on March 7 directed the Foreigners Regional Reporting Officer, Mumbai, to issue an exit permit to enable her to travel back to China.

As the customs department had issued a lookout circular, blocking her exit from the country, the woman had approached the high court, where justice Chavan accepted her plea.

Though the customs department opposed her plea, the single judge bench noted, “It is apparent from the record that conduct of the respondent No. 2 (Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Prosecution Cell) is not only wrongful and vindictive, but it amounts to gross abuse of its powers in restricting the petitioner to leave for her country without any justification,” said the judge.

The court further said, “The petitioner, a lady, having left her country way back in 2019 with two children behind, should not have been troubled and harassed by the Customs Department. This is nothing but victimising the petitioner without any reason.”

The high court has now directed the customs department to give a NOC within a week for issuing exit permit to the Chinese national, while the central government has been directed to pay her compensation of ₹10 lakh before her departure.

The court has further directed the Centre to recover the compensation amount from the salaries of the customs officers responsible for filing the appeal before the sessions court without proper permission.