New Delhi, Sep 25 A Delhi court has allowed seven foreign nationals arrested in connection with a case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to travel to their home countries in the United States and Ukraine, saying the right to travel abroad is an extension of fundamental rights.
The NIA had arrested them in a case allegedly involving a drone-warfare training camp linked to ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma, in an order passed on Thursday, noted that the court had earlier discharged six Ukrainian citizens under sections 21 (penalty for unauthorised entry) and 23 (penalty for visa overstay and general contraventions) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, on September 18, while US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke was discharged on September 25.
The court discharged them after taking note of the compounding of offences by the FRRO.
The FRRO had on September 18 compounded the offences by imposing a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh on each.
Judge Sharma noted that applications had been filed on behalf of all accused persons for release of passport and permission to travel abroad.
"Admittedly, investigation with respect to offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) is going on. NIA will take some time to conclude said investigation and this court cannot direct NIA to conclude said investigation, within a particular time, as per law,” the judge said.
He said it is not the case of the NIA that physical presence of the seven accused was needed in the near future to complete the investigation.
"Further, the right to travel abroad is an extension of fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, as per the law, which cannot be taken lightly and a balance has to be struck," Judge Sharma said.
He noted that the accused persons have shown willingness to join the investigation, as and when asked by NIA.
"Therefore, viewed from all possible legal and factual angles, I find merits in the present application," the judge said, allowing them to go abroad, to the USA and Ukraine for one month only, to be calculated from the date they board flights, subject to certain conditions," the judge said.
He directed them to join the investigation through video conference or physically as demanded by the NIA, asking them to furnish details of their residential addresses, working mobile numbers and e-mails to NIA within 24 hours.
If the accused persons have no working phone numbers, then they are given liberty to furnish mobile numbers of their family members within 24 hours from now and, subject to them reaching their respective destinations, they will furnish their working phone numbers within a week, the judge said.
He said the seven foreign nationals had to return to India upon completing one month of their stay in their respective countries.
Van Dyke was granted default bail on September 18, while the six Ukrainians – Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim alias Maksym and Kaminskyi Viktor – were granted default bail on September 23.
The NIA had earlier registered the case against the Ukrainian nationals and Van Dyke under section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The NIA had probed the case as involving alleged UAPA offences for 180 days after obtaining an extension from the court. However, in its first chargesheet filed on September 8, it invoked provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, while stating that the UAPA probe was continuing.
The agency had said the investigation into offences under the UAPA was kept pending and it could file a supplementary chargesheet if an offence under the anti-terror law was established.
The NIA had also said a substantial part of the further investigation into alleged offences under the UAPA was completed, but more time was required to ascertain the complete facts, particularly in view of the import and recovery of a large quantity of drones and accessories through India.
Earlier, the agency had told the court that the accused were being probed for a wide-ranging terror conspiracy, including assistance to ethnic armed groups in India and Myanmar, and imparting drone training to them.
According to the NIA, the accused had illegally entered Myanmar through Mizoram without valid travel documents and allegedly participated in a pre-scheduled training programme involving drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming technology for Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups targeting the Myanmar military junta.
